A Spartan Alone
by Korten
Summary: Jastis-015, a Spartan-II, accidently lands in another universe where he must adjust to this new society and conquer foes that threaten the wellbeing of galactic peace. Even though he has no stakes within this universe, a Spartan must do his job. Post ME3/Halo 3 (Pre-Halo 4) – Decent chunk of OC characters.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Some warnings beforehand.**

**-This will not be an in-depth technological FanFic, what would beat what, and all that. It will be simpler.**

**-This takes place AFTER Mass Effect 3, It takes place after the Destroy ending with some changes. Spoilers warned!**

**(Edit: Before this said indoctrination theory but this has since been changed as of Chapter 2.) **

**With that said, enjoy!**

**Edit: I edited and added a bit. Hope you enjoy the changes.**

**June 5th, 2556 - Unknown Part of Space - UNSC INFINITY**

"Wake up Spartan-015," spoke the "Smart" AI to the sleeping Spartan. But the Spartan didn't respond, he continued to sleep. Suddenly the room went red and an went off, and the Spartan rose up, but as he did went off. The Spartan shook his head and then stood up, the black short haired, pale skinned man looked over at a Holotank and saw the AI appear. Marsiani as she called herself, looked like a reporter from the 21st Century, and she was designated to look after the Spartan.

Marsiani smirked, "Spartan, it is currently 0800; you were supposed to be up at 0600." She spoke to the Spartan. He folded his arms, annoyed at the AI, even for a Spartan who had been captured as a child, and went through brutal training and augmentations, he loved his sleeping time. While he was a Spartan, and on par with all the rest, he was a more laid back Spartan, but when he needed to be, he could be as serious as needed.

"Marsiani…Unless it's an emergency, I like to wake up at 0800, not 0600. Maybe with other Spartans, but not me," irritated, the augmented soldier looked away from Holotank and made his way to the armory to get his MJOLNIR [GEN2] back on, he didn't like being out of it. As he went through the halls of the UNSC _Infinity_, the AI followed him. He stopped and she appeared again on another Holotank.

The Spartan was further agitated, "Why don't you bother another Spartan? How about one of the IV's? Or even Kelly-087, Fred-104, or even Linda-058?"

The AI smiled, "Because I was ordered to keep track of you!" She pointed at him and he threw up his arms and walked into the armory. There he put on the MJOLNIR [GEN2], which compared to the VI, was slicker, and slimmer. His was white, with a blue visor, and some red tint around the arms, legs, and areas of the chest. Once he placed it on, he blocked out all of the noise of the AI.

Ever since the end of the war, when he was alone, or in his armor, he began to reflect on various parts of the war. Harvest, Reach, _Earth. _Yes, Earth…

**November 17th, 2552 – Earth –****– Voi.**

He had been sent in with a squad of marines, not Spartans or ODST, just plain simple marines. But they would all perish, once the flood landed. The Spartan could do nothing to stop the flood from infecting the marines, even with his speed, the flood had ambushed them, and none of them had ever fought the parasite before. After losing his squad, the Spartan could hear over the COM channels that the Elites or Sangheili were about to glass half of the continent to contain the flood.

Not wanting to get stuck in it, he began to make his way to the _Shadow of Intent_. Stopping at a corner he looked out, he could see some bodies of brutes being infected by the flood. With his M90 Shotgun he rushed out at the infected, and began to rein bullets upon them. Infected forms ran at him at all angles, so he kicked them, and hit them with the butt of his gun to destroy them. A brute infected slammed into him, and sent him flying to the ground; the Spartan regained his focus and blasted the infected brute as it jumped on him.

Getting back up, the augmented soldier continued down the military complex, making his way through rooms full of flood. It was horrific, seeing all the damage and infected, it was as if he had stepped into a horror film, where there was no clear way out, "damn the flood!" He yelled out as he threw his empty shotgun away and pulled out his M6G Magnum sidearm and shot at the infected forms coming at him. Reloading he made his way to the outside where he noticed a pelican still active, and various marines and some ODSTs running towards it.

Flood were surrounding the pelican, and the Spartan ran over to assist. Picking up a downed soldier's BR55HB SR Battle Rifle and shot at the closing in Combat Forms. As the marines and ODSTs got into the pelican, the Spartan was the last one to get in. The pelican closed its door and then flew into the air. One of the marines who was sitting down, with blood over him, and breathing heavily spoke to the Spartan.

"Spartan… Thanks for the assist, I am Private Dunham," the marine looked relieved, as the other marines and ODSTs did.

"No need to thank me, only doing my job. Is this going to the _Shadow of Intent_?" Asked the Spartan as he wondered up to the cock pit. The driver nodded, and the Spartan then saw the _Shadow of Intent_ and various other Sangheili controlled ships starting to glass the continent. It was ironic, they had feared being glassed, as many worlds had been, but in this case, now they were being saved by having to glass part of the continent.

He also saw the Portal, the giant forerunner structure that the Covenant Prophet Truth, went through on his Forerunner dreadnaught. Could they win this war? The thought plunged into his mind.

**June 5th, 2556 - Unknown Part of Space - UNSC INFINITY**

The news that they would be jumping into Slip space momentarily echoed through the ship. Since they had no mission at the moment, the Spartan didn't feel the compulsive need to reach out to his fellow Spartans. As he walked the halls, he saw some of the Spartan IV's, and compared to the II's or even III's, he felt no real connection to them. While the II's had been kidnapped, and the III's taken in from refugees of glassed worlds, the IV's were volunteered soldiers who were augmented and put with MJOLNIR [GEN2] armor.

Thus the connection of being trained at such a young age and been fighting all of their lives, was lost. So when he passed by he simply saluted to the IV's, the connection might be non-existent, but he still respected them. Just before jump, he sat down in a room with a large glass window that let him look out to the stars.

Space, he thought to himself, what a magnificent sight even after all of the years. Sitting down on the hard metal couch he looked out at the stars and relaxed. It was moments like this that he savored the most. The Human-Covenant war had taken such a toll on him, even for an augmented super soldier, there was only so far you could be pushed. For twenty-seven years, battle after battle, it was tiring. So far it had been four years since the battle ended, he remembered being at the Voi Memorial, back in 2553 in March, seeing his fellow remaining Spartans.

Seeing their numbers dwindled was saddening, he remembered training back on Reach with the originally seventy or so, and then after the augmentations, being reduced to thirty, and more have died since then. So many MIA or listed as MIA but actually KIA. But at least they were remembered; at least they were recognized for their actions. He remembered the Master Chief, one of the most decorated Spartans in all of UNSC history and the one who with the Sangheili, Thel' Vadam, or the Arbiter, fought on the Ark, and ended the war against both the Covenant and the Flood, but only the Arbiter made it back with the front of the _Forward unto Dawn,_with the Master Chief nowhere to be found, even after 4 years.

**November 17th, 2552 – Earth – Kenya – Voi – SHADOW OF INTENT**

Aboard the _Shadow of Intent_, the Spartan didn't make his presence overly known, as he didn't inform over the COM Channels of his arrival on the _Shadow of Intent_, which gained him some looks as the only Spartan most had seen recently had been The Master Chief, or John-117, whom was also aboard the Sangheili Corvette. He also learned that some Marines, ODSTs, Sgt. Avery Johnson, Miranda Keyes, and Lord Terrance Hood were present.

When he presented himself to Hood, he was told that unlike the Master Chief who would be going with the _Shadow of Intent_ that he would be staying on Earth to fight off any remaining covenant forces. The Spartan didn't object. But before the Spartan left with Hood back to the Earth, he got to sit down and talk with the Chief.

"Good to see you Jastis. Been a while."

"Likewise," the Spartan responded. It was nice to see someone say his name, most only referred to him as Spartan or if they knew his designated number, Spartan-15 or simply 15, "So… You're going through the Portal to chase Truth?"

The tall green armored Spartan nodded, "Affirmative, I believe it's time to finish this."

Jastis nodded to that. "Too many of us have died; the Spartans are so few in numbers. We can't afford to lose anymore. Master Chief, John, live. I will be here on Earth, fighting the good fight; you make sure to come back. We lost Reach, but we won't lose Earth."

They continued to chat for a short bit after that, talking about the newly allied Elites, and the Flood. It was the Flood that the Master Chief told the Spartan about all of their forms and what to watch out for. Even the Gravemind which the idea of the head of the Flood sent shivers down the spine of the Super Soldier. Before they left, Jastis stretched out his hand to John.

The Master Chief grabbed his hand and shook it, and then the Chief spoke, "Jastis, make Earth proud."

"You go and make the Spartan's proud," with that Jastis boarded a pelican, Hood then before the pelican left, looked at both the Master Chief and Miranda Keyes both of which stood side by side. He hoped they would both come back. But in the end, he never saw either of them, and now believes both to be dead, but in reality, only Miranda was…

**June 5th, 2556 - Unknown Part of Space - UNSC INFINITY**

They had jumped before, but it was still strange, since the _Infinity_ was made using Human, Covenant, and Forerunner technology, it was faster, but different than the normal Slip space he expected. One of the crewmates were counting down over the com channel.

"5… 4… 3… 2… 1..!" Then a portal ripped opened ahead of the vessel and the ship flew right in it. After which the feeling of being in Slip space was no different than all the other times he had been in it. Looking out the window, he saw nothing, everyone was pure black, and it made the view less relaxing.

Suddenly though the ship shook like if it had been hit by something, an almost red overlay went over everything and then stopped. Due to the immense shaking, the Spartan accidently flew at the window, and despite it being extremely tough and bullet proof, it wasn't enough for the almost 1000 pound super soldier slamming into it. The window shattered and the Spartan tried to grab on, but the speed of Slip space was too much and he was forced to let go.

As he drifted the MJOLNIR armor began its procedures and it was able to reenter normal space on its own. Now he was floating in space, with the _Infinity_nowhere in sights. Looking around he noticed he was beginning to be brought in by the nearby planet's gravitational pull. The planet held water but was mostly covered by many desert and barren areas. And he could see patches of grey which looked like cities or settlements.

Jastis turned on his COM channel and tried to get a signal but no one on the planet was using the same frequencies as he was, "Guess I will have to reenter the planet's atmosphere myself..," As he let himself be dragged into the planets gravity, he began to get faster and faster, and the suit became hotter but the inner cooling systems were active and were keeping him at a stable temperature.

As he got closer, he was right, they were settlements, but he wasn't going to land anywhere near them, as he was heading straight for one of patches of barren. It would be bad if he fell into water; the immense weight of the MJOLNIR wouldn't be able to handle it and would most likely sink.

His suit shields began to flare, but were keeping steady, and began to ignite fires around him. The g-force coming at him was immense, but he was a Spartan and could easily handle it. Also it wasn't the first time he had to reenter a planet's atmosphere by himself, two years ago he was on a cargo vessel that got attacked by some Kig'yar mercenaries and he was force to jump out of the cargo vessel and land on the deserted planet. Took him four weeks to be found, and those four weeks weren't fun, but he had his training and survived.

He was in the atmosphere now, and he enabled his suits armor lock, in minutes he would be crashing into the planet's surface. Then it happened, he struck the land and the ground around him erupted and he even bounced around a bit and then landed. For a few moments he blacked out, but eventually he awoke. Jastis found himself in a crater of debris, and slowly he stood up. His armor told him that the atmosphere held oxygen and it was enough for a human to breath, it was in some cases similar to Earth.

Then he remembered, Marsiani wasn't with him.

_Shit._

He continued to keep his COM channel open, and he leaped out of the crater. Nothing for miles, his HUD zoomed in and still nothing. Jastis was a bit disoriented by the fall, but he did see the large settlement or city to the east, so that was his best bet. While he could run, he decided to walk, as he was in no rush, and the impact made him still a bit out of it and he didn't want to risk the chance of fainting.

The 7ft and weighing at a near 1000 pound, the Armored Soldier walked across the barren lands. He looked out at the clear blue sky and noticed a patch of heavy clouds coming in. Rain would rein down soon, although he wouldn't need cover, his armor wouldn't rust, and thus he could continue through the rain fall. Hours later the sun began to fall behind the surrounding mountains and dipped below the horizon. The moon then came out and lit up the night sky and a blue tint fell upon the land.

Then the rain fell, and he walked on. Jastis began to wonder if his arrival was spotted, no doubt that seeing an object falling to the planet would raise some concerns. It was nice, despite all that had happened, he was relaxed once more. So far he had to not worry about being attacked or surrounded; he could simply walk in peace. Although if he was attacked, he had no weapons making things a bit complicated, through if he was to be attacked, while he couldn't run as fast as Kelly-087, but he was still fast, and being a Spartan, he could rip most things apart with his fists, and the armor helped.

Stopping near a pond which his armor signaled him saying it was clean and drinkable, he took off his helmet for a moment and drank some of the water, he kept his helmet partially on so the rain didn't get his hair or face wet. His armor would keep him alive without food or water for days on end, but it had its limits, and he always could use a good drink of water.

Eventually the rain passed, and the sun came up and shined once more on the man. The Spartan feeling better than he did on crash decided it would be best to run. Like a blur he ran across the land, dodging rocks, trees, and ditches. Not once did he falter. Suddenly he slowed down as he heard the noise that sounded like a pelican coming near him, but this seemed smoother.

Looking up he noticed a drop ship coming in, but it didn't look like any UNSC drop ship he had seen. It was sleeker, grey, and was small, its thrusters began to cool down and then they dipped up to their sides, the thrusters stopped and the ship landed peacefully.

Already the Spartan was ready to strike at any moment. For a moment everything went still. He had no idea what to expect, would they even be human? Couldn't be Covenant, its style was different. No one was coming out of the drop ship. His eyes wondered, studying the surrounding area, looking for all his advantages and disadvantages. There wasn't much, he was on a flat area with some rocks ahead of him, to his east, and behind him. If anything was to go wrong, he could fall back.

It was strange that all this was happening, he had expected things to become normal after the war, well normal by Spartan standards, but after the war it seemed he still had much to do.

**April 5th, 2553 – Australia – Sydney – ONI Head Quarters.**

"Spartan-III's? Spartan-IV's?" The Spartan asked as he looked across the desk at the Older Woman. She nodded, and then began to look at some papers. Parangosky was her name, in her early nineties, and still head of ONI, she was an intimidating fellow whom Jastis wished he didn't have to associate with.

She slid a file across the desk and Jastis picked it up and looked at the pictures inside. They showed Onyx, the Spartan-III's, the UNSC _Infinity_, and the new Spartan-IV's. He felt mixed feelings, he had lost his childhood because he was deemed worthy to become a Spartans, and he didn't much like the ideas of more Spartan programs. The ONI Head began to explain in-depth more about the Spartan-III program and how his fellow Spartan's, Kurt, and Jorge had both participated in training them.

It made him slightly less worried about the III's but he was still skeptical. Then there was the IV's which Parangosky said that unlike the II's who were kidnapped, and III's who were orphans of the Human-Covenant War, IV's were soldiers who willingly volunteered to become the next Spartans, "As of this moment, you're being transferred to the UNSC _Infinity_, where you will overlook the Spartan-IV's."

"Why me? What about Fred, Kelly, or Linda? Hell even Mendez?" He protested.

She frowned, "They're already on board, except for Mendez. You will be the fourth Spartan-II training them. Some of the III's will also be present and also assimilated into the IV program."

Jastis put down the pictures, "Do I get a choice in this? I rather be out there stopping the recent insurrections then babysitting new Spartans."

"No, you're a Spartan and you will do your duty to the UNSC. This discussion is over; you will head to the nearest port and head off to the _Infinity_."

**June 5th, 2556 - Unknown Part of Space – Unknown World**

The door to the Drop ship opened, and stepped out for figures. They weren't human; one wasn't even organic or at least didn't look it. Three of them stood in what appeared to be very light skinned armor with purple visors, he couldn't make out any facial identification, but he did notice they had three fingers and their legs arched back a bit. The one synthetic, was red, with a various tubes over its body, it was similar to the other beings shape, with its legs going back, but its head was just a simple blue colored eye.

They all held weapons that were aren't anything he had seen before. Just for being non-human his reflexes wanted to react and snap all of their necks, but he had no idea where he was. All he knew is that they weren't from the covenant; at least they hadn't seen them during the war.

One of them spoke and to his surprise it was in English with an Arabic sounding accent, "Identify yourself!"

The one wearing blue and who appeared to be a female was the one who spoke to him, "Lieutenant Spartan-015 of the UNSC."

She cocked her head and then they each looked at each other and then back at the giant man in armor, "What is a Spartan, or for that matter, what is the UNSC?"

Now he knew for sure that they weren't from the Covenant. Although they seemed advanced… Why hadn't they encountered them before? "I am a Spartan, a Special Forces unit... The UNSC is the United Nations Space Command, also I am Humans, but what are you?"

"A Human yet you don't know what we are? Are you from the Alliance?"

Jastis nodded his head, they know of Humans… Yet there are no records of any of their races ever making contact with the UNSC, Insurrectionist, or Covenant, "No, I have no idea what you're or for the matter what this 'Alliance' you speak of, but you sound like you know Humans, if you wouldn't mind, please take me to a nearby Human."

_That felt weird asking it like that…_

They talked amongst their selves until they stopped and the female, whom he now believed to be the leader, spoke to him, "How can we trust you-your armor, it's like nothing we have ever seen, and how can we sure you're truly Human? You don't even know what the Alliance is!"

Deciding it was best not to piss of people he just met, he grabbed the back of his helmet and pulled it off revealing himself. Now they couldn't refute, but they still didn't trust him. That he couldn't blame them. "Believe me now?"

The strange looking Aliens nodded on that part, but weren't convinced they could trust him, "Just to make it fair, we're Quarian's, this is our world, Rannoch. Now tell us what you're doing here or else we will shoot at you."

"I was on one of our ships and were going through slip space when a sudden and abrupt shaking affected our ship. I was in a room with a window, with my armor's heavy weight, it shattered the window and I fell out. My armor allowed me to reenter normal space and when I did, I found myself outside your world. Then I proceeded to fall upon Rannoch and crash landed. Now I am here. Does that satisfy you?" He asked.

"Alright follow me, but if you make one wrong move, we will shoot you, no mercy." She stepped back into the Drop Ship and the three others waited outside, the Spartan then followed her, ducking his head so he didn't hit the top of the door. Inside he noticed it was fairly simple but it was advanced, but seemed almost archaic compared to the UNSC's new Forerunner, Human, Covenant-melded ship.

After he sat down, surprised it held his weight, the three others stepped inside and within a minute they were up in the air, flying over the deserts and barren lands. Inside they stared at him, they didn't appear to have seen a Human quite like him, and then again he wasn't an average Human. It took about an hour but they eventually reached a small settlement. They all stepped out of the Drop ship.

It was a small village but it was nice. He followed the aliens to a house, and female knocked on the door. With the Spartan's adept hearing he could hear the foot steps behind the door which grew louder until the door opened. Another female of the Quarian race appeared who was wearing a purple version of their outfit with various black and a hood.

The female bowed to the purple armored alien, "Tali'Zorah, we wish to see Commander Shepard."

"Yansia'Van? It's good to see you! What is the occasion-" Tali stopped and looked behind the female and saw the hulking man in heavy armor, unlike anything she had seen before, and she had seen a lot, "What or who is that?"

Yansia looked behind herself at the Spartan, "This is Spartan-015, at least that's what he says. Apparently he hails from something called the UNSC. He is Human, but this is his first contact with Quarian's, and Geth."

_So is that what the robot looking thing is? A Geth?_

Tali stared up at the Spartan, "Well it's nice to meet you, Spartan-015… This is strange… Please follow me inside." Yansia signaled for the three others to stay outside, but then looked at the Spartan which told him to follow.

Inside he stepped, the house was nice, and it reminded him of the insides of the buildings in New Alexandria, and back on Earth. "Shepard, guests have arrived, it appears… urgent," Tali spoke as they entered the main foyer. A man, human, was sitting on a couch looking at a holo television. He had pale skin, short black hair, and green eyes. But something about him made the Spartan believe he was one who had survived many battles.

Shepard stood up and walked over to the Spartan, there was something that felt off. The man reached out his arm, "John Shepard, nice to meet you."

**AN: And that's where I will end it for now. I plan on writing the next Chapter soon. :) Be sure to leave a review, if people like it I will continue. Criticism is wanted, but no flaming. Be constructive. And if anyone acts out of place please tell me, or if I got a bit of lore wrong, I will be willing to go back and edit chapters.**

**Also Note that Shepard will NOT be a major character in this. At least not in the start, in the beginning he will act as a sort of mentor-like figure. Someone is going to have to teach him the way of this new universe.**

**Thanks for reading. :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN HALO OR MASS EFFECT, THEY BELOND TO 343 AND BIOWARE. MICROSOFT AND EA. **

**AN: Rannoch has a 32.3 Hour Day Length. So I was trying to coordinate what time it would be day light, and such. It may be slightly off, but I tried the best I could.**

**Also Shepard on Rannoch is because he romanced Tali, in ME3, they said that after the war, they would go back to Rannoch and build her a home.**

**Also BIG NOTE AND CHANGE TO THE STORY! With the new Extended Cut, the story now follows the Destroy ending with some alterations, well less alterations and more 'fixes' that happen after. Such as the Geth are rebuilt by everyone with full sentience and stuff like that. It also follow the most perfect version of destroy and in this confirms as hinted that Shepard lived.**

**(Edit: As of 9/26/2012, I have edited the first chapter to also state that it takes place after destroy ending.)**

**Enjoy. :) Also if you hadn't checked, the first Chapter has been edited a while ago.**

**June 5****th****, 2191 – Perseus Veil – Tikkun System - Rannoch – 2100 Hours.**

"Spotted anything?" Asked a Quarian sitting down fooling around with his Omni-Tool. Another standing up, looking out at the endless barren lands simply sighed and turned to his comrade.

"Not a damn thing, same old same old, just barren wastes. You know, when we took back Rannoch, I was hoping I would be part of construction… But no, I get placed on guard duty."

The other Quarian stopped fooling around and then stood up, "What's up with that anyway? Honestly… What are we supposed to be watching out for? Geth that are malfunctioned? Raiders? Reapers that may have survived?"

"Can't say Royis, they didn't get specifics," Royis just shook his head at the other Quarian's statement.

Royis went back to his Omni-Tool bored out of his mind. Together they sat on a watch tower, in the middle of nowhere, with just a couple of buildings behind them. Just a simple outpost. "We should rebel against them, Yisor," Royis spoke jokingly.

"_Yeah…_ You go do that. Tell me how that turns out," Yisor spoke as he looked away from the barren wastes and noticed a Red Geth coming up to the tower, "damn… Tin boy coming up to the tower."

The Geth didn't climb up the ladder; it just simply looked up and called out, "Yisor Ensign, anything spotted?"

"Nothing, we will tell you when there is something," Just as he spoke he heard a loud roaring noise in the distance, he went to the front of the tower and looked out and then up in the sky. It was far and he couldn't make it out but he saw something falling from the sky. "Got something! It's roughly… 120 Kilometers away..! It will be impacting the land in ten minutes going by its speed."

Looking back he saw the Geth leaving in hurry and ten minutes later a team was ready and a drop ship made its way to the impact site.

**June 5****th****, 2191 – Perseus Veil – Tikkun System - Rannoch – 2400 Hours.**

They landed near the crater and ran up to it. A Quarian with a Vindicator went down into the crater and spoke, "Nothing. There is the impact crater… But nothing else."

"Yansia'Van Leader, I detect nothing in the crater. No residue, no scraps. Just a simple crater. 99.8% chances are that what was in the crater has now moved elsewhere." The Geth spoke as its eye scanned the crater. Yansia put her Vindicator on her back, and began to move around the crater looking for something, some trace.

Taking her Omni-Tool, she scanned the ground and it she saw the foot ingrain in the ground, whatever had moved it was heavy. She signaled for everyone to come and take a look, "Let's get back in the Drop ship. We can follow the tracks from the air, because I don't see what ever got out in the distance."

Together they boarded the Drop ship, and they began to fly in the direction of the footsteps. The Sun began to lower down as they went and the clouds began to gather, it was to rain soon. It would be harder to spot, the thing they were looking for in it, but they continued on. Eventually the trail began to go colder with the rain, but they believed they still had a good trial.

For what were many hours, they rode through the rain, and eventually when the sun began to rise again, and the rain stopped. They saw their target. It was moving extremely fast over the landscape. But then when they got closer to the ground, the thing stopped, and looked up at them. It was humanoid shaped, and immediately began to suspect it was human, but it was bigger than any she had seen before and the armor was unknown.

They landed the Drop Ship ahead of it.

**June 6****th****, 2191 – Perseus Veil – Tikkun System - Rannoch – 0900 Hours.**

The Spartan looked out at John's hand and shook it, "The pleasure is mine." The commander looked at the Spartan and then back at Yansia.

"So what is his story?" Shepard spoke as he sat down, he gestured for the rest to do the same, so Tali and Yansia sat down but the Spartan still stood. "Are you going to sit down?"

"I can't sir; I don't believe it can within stand my weight," Jastis responded.

John was confused by the statement but smiled, "It can hold the weight of Krogan, it can hold yours."

_These Krogan's must be another race, big I assume._

The Spartan went over to the couch and sat down, surprised that it was still standing. John took a glass of water on the table in the center of the couches and chairs and drank from it and shook his head as if he was trying to make himself more awake. "So, please tell, Yansia."

"Sir, yesterday on June 5th, two Quarian's at an outpost spotted an object falling at tremendous speed and over 120 kilometers away at 2100 Hours. We investigated the crash site and found no one, so we continued to search until we found him. This Spartan as he called himself."

"Spartan?" John asked, "like the Sparta in Ancient Greece?"

The Spartan nodded and Yansia continued, "When we eventually found him, he told us he was a Lieutenant from the UNSC, United Nations Space Command. Also this is his first time meeting a Quarian or Geth, he also stated he doesn't know what the Alliance is."

"How is that you don't know of the alliance? It is after all Humanity's main fighting force. Earth's military and political side," John inquired.

_What? No, that can't be right._

Jastis shook his head, "You're mistaken, Earth's main government is the UEG, Unified Earth Government, and its military force is the UNSC. Only four years ago in 2553, we finally ended the war with the Covenant. You must all know that, right?"

"2553? Spartan, this is 2191," Shepard told him.

For a moment the room fell silent, 2191 was 365 years ago from 2556. Something had gone wrong, more than just falling through slip space. The only logical theory that came to his mind was that he was in another dimension. After all it couldn't be his dimension, back in 2100's, they were just forming the UEG and the UNSC, The Rain Forest Wars had happened and so did the Interplanetary War. No Alliance, Quarian's, or Geth to speak of.

Before he could respond Tali was quick to speak, "So what, you're from the future where there is no more Quarian's or Geth?"

Jastis shook his head, he knew what had happened, it was only a theory but it was the only way to logically explain where was. "No, not the future, but another dimension. That's the only logical thing I can think of. Because back in the 2100's we still hadn't made first contact with any other life, in fact the UNSC didn't come into first contact with other life until 2525 at the colony Harvest which was attacked by the Covenant."

Once more silence hit the room, the revelation was strange, they had encountered perilous dangers but never once a being from another dimension. Shepard folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, "Another dimension you say… What proof do you have? For all we know this could be just made up hogwash and this is all just some ploy."

"To be fair sir, the Spartan did fall from orbit. I don't know any armor we have that can survive that sort of fall and be nearly in perfect condition. You of all people must know that," Yansia added in.

Shepard knew that all too well, after their first encounter with the collectors aboard the original Normandy. He saved Joker, their pilot, but John had gotten hit and his oxygen tubes had been broken and he gasped for air as he fell to the planet blow burning up to a crisp. While he had been 'revived' by Cerberus after two years of work on the Lazarus Project, which the sole purpose of the project was to bring him back. Only during the war with the Reapers when they raided Cerberus's Headquarters did he learn the extent of how bad condition he was in when they found him, he was roasted, and he could barely even be identified.

"Even so, I will need to have some proof, does that suit of armor your wearing have any sort of recording functions to show us your dimension? Or a codex of sorts?" The commander insisted.

Jastis didn't have a codex, doesn't even know if such a thing exists in his dimension, but he did have recordings of previous battles over the years. "I do have a recording system, but I don't have anything to project them out of. Your technology doesn't appear to be the same as my own."

The Quarian, Tali, decided to help, "We probably could find something; there must be some similarities, something that can bridge the two technologies."

"Is there any way for me to send you the videos? Do you have something I can send them to, maybe my suit can detect its frequencies."

Out of her arm an orange holographic gauntlet appeared, and she began to interact with it, and she noticed it could connect with the suit, it couldn't hack into it, not that she attempted anyway, but a link could be established. As she worked with it, he noticed on his HUD that she was connecting, and thus he simply forwarded the videos he deemed best to see. It only took mere seconds for Tali to get all of the video files, once she was satisfied; she stood up and went over to the holo television, and it began to play.

**November 5****th****, 2552 – Earth – North America – Rhode Island**

Jastis ran down the street and slid into cover when he heard noises ahead, the distinct noises of a band of brutes. The buildings around him were burning, and civilian bodies littered the ground mixed in with some army troop's corpses. He looked above, Longswords flew by shooting Seraphs. One of the Seraphs got hit and crashed into the building next to him. Debris fell and Jastis ran out of the way as it smashed against the ground.

Moving on he stopped right before where he knew the Brutes were; they were looking around for any survivors to kill. They began to split up; three went in his direction, and two in another. Stepping silently into a building, he waited in its shadows, for them to arrive. It had appeared to be an office building, desks were on the ground alongside computers, wires were sparking, and fires were breaking out across the floor.

When the Brutes moved across his sight, he pulled out his knife and vaulted over his cover and before they could react he slammed the knife into one of their necks and repeatedly stabbed until he was sure it was dead. The other two brutes reacted, one brought down its gravity hammer and Jastis rolled away and the grav hammer annihilated the ground where it hit. Then the second shot its brute shot at him and Jastis kept dodging.

Leaping behind cover, Jastis saw the top of a grenade and he picked up out from the hands of a dead trooper whose body was crushed by a large debris. He readied it and then threw it out of cover, the two brutes saw it and made away but their shields took a hit bringing them down a bit, Jastis left his cover from the other way and aimed at them with his pistol and shot the brute with the brute shot and killed it with shots to the head. But the Brute Chieftain with the gravity hammer didn't go down as easily.

Its power armor activated and a shimmer of blue covered the Brute Chieftain and it rushed at him with the grav hammer in hand ready to strike. He would have to disable the power armor if he wanted to kill it. It wasn't like the power armor of some other Chieftains but similar to the ones worn on Reach that were far more resilient. With his pistol in hand and no other gun, the Spartan was forced to have to make a temporary retreat.

Jastis turned and ran and stopped when he found a BR55HB SR Battle Rifle or BR for short with some ammo, picking it up the Super soldier ran up some nearby stairs and spotted the Brute rushing at him still. They were strong, but not as quick. Aiming down with his BR he began to rapid fire at the brute and its armor began to dwindle and just as the Brute reached the stairs feet the shield was down. It ran and jumped up the stairs and slammed down the hammer and the Spartan ran into the building and waited for the Brute to enter.

Taking out his magnum he waited and when the Brute came slamming in, the Spartan unleashed his ammo onto the Brute's head, it's blood splattering across the walls, it fell down to the ground and the grav hammer hit the ground with a large slamming noise. Knowing there was no time to wait, the Spartan picked up the grav hammer and made his way back to the streets. His radio picked up a signal.

"_This is Charlie Squad! Request back up at the entrance of Harvest Street, Sector 12, we're pinned down and need urgent help!" _A marine spoke over the radio.

Jastis replied, "This is Lieutenant Spartan-015; I am close by and will provide support."

"_Thank god! Thought we were goners!" _

Without further wait the Spartan moved across the street and reached Sector 11, and saw in his field of view the entrance of Harvest Street where Charlie Squad was. Grunts, Jackals, Brutes, and Drones were raining down upon their position. Just as he was reaching the squad into Sector 12, the video stopped.

**Present Time**

They all looked at Shepard who had stopped the video, "I have seen enough, there isn't any doubt that you are from another dimension, this video is proof of that."

"What were those aliens? I have never seen before, I assume they must exist in your dimension?" Spoke Tali.

Jastis nodded and then responded with, "Jiralhanae and from that response I assume they don't exist in yours."

"Correct."

It was then that the second Quarian spoke, "So, if I may ask since this is something that has never happened before. What is your dimension like? Your history? You gave us a tidbit-"

"Now. Now, this isn't an interrogation," Shepard addressed, "When he wants to speak he shall. At the moment, I think we should address the larger problem at hand. What are we going to do?"

_What will us? He was stuck in another dimension, no easy sign of getting home…_

Tali clapped her hands together, "Shall we call the alliance? He is military after all. I wish we could help him in some way, but I have no idea where to start. But- the Alliance maybe the best place for him now."

John agreed, and Yansia had no objection, and for Jastis… He couldn't really argue, it was a right decision, but they would need to test him most likely, and will want to look through his armor. The Spartan didn't like the idea of them learning of his augmentations, especially since he doesn't know their laws. Then there was his MJOLNIR, he couldn't simply hand it over. But what other choice did he have?

"I shall go to the Alliance that you speak of," He proclaimed, and John simply nodded and went onto his Omni-tool and sent a message to his friend Marcus Renidor, one of the few people he genuinely trusted and then he waited for a response. Most likely he would be on Earth, still rebuilding, it's still quite a mess after the Reaper attack.

Soon he got a response; John didn't go into to detail, so Marcus assumed that he would get the full detail when he would arrive. It wouldn't take long, but at least an hour at best for Marcus's ship to arrive, get to Rannoch and then land; the message stated they would land in the nearby space port, so they had to leave if they wanted to not let Marcus wait.

Shepard stood up and explained to them just that, so all of them stood up as well and left the house. Once outside, Yansia updated her squad and them along with herself, left and went back to their outpost. Jastis once more stepped into the vehicle he rode earlier.

_Time to meet these alliance people…_

**AN: Thanks for reading! I should have gotten this out a really long time ago, but hadn't been in the mood. I ended this earlier then I wanted to but I wished to get at least something out. And with the new changes I may or may not have to edit the previous chapter. **

**Please review and give good criticism and examples. Don't say: "This character is off."**

**Say: "This character is off because of blah blah."**

**Well thanks again! **

**Also a very short short CODEX:**

**Name: Marcus Renidor**

**Race: Human.**

**Age: 32**

**Born: 2/04/2159 **

**Home world: Earth.**

**Bio: Marcus Renidor is an Earthling who serves in the Systems Alliance and since the passing of the war with the reapers is a captain, and yields the ship SSV **_**Colorado. **_**He was the person to find Shepard in the broken down citadel who was barely alive.**

**Note: Originally before the Extended Cut (As it was going to go with the indoctrination theory), Marcus was supposed to be Anderson, but with following the Destroy ending… He is no longer present. D:**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey… Took me long enough to get this out… Really need to go faster with this. I know there isn't many reading, but wish to get it out for those who are. :)**

**Just some things… Until Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, Halo: The Thursday War, and Halo 4 has come out, I will for now on try to avoid any flash backs to the years leading up to current events. I wish to try to stay in line with canon so then if I wish to do anything else in the Halo universe they make sense.**

**Such as I may also change some dates, and possibly make it so when Jastis was on the Infinity, that it was earlier then 2557 and maybe like 2556 or 5. **

**Lastly since there isn't much info on Mass Effect after 3, I will have to make up some things, such as you will see below with the Quarian City of Devanx. **

**Enjoy!**

**June 6****th****, 2191 – Perseus Veil – Tikkun System - Rannoch – 1100 Hours.**

They arrived at the Quarian city of Devanx which had been built along with the newly built Geth and combined both of their techniques to create quite a metropolis. It was quite different than any city from his dimension, at least Human city as it housed flying cars something that no Human ship had and it's style of architect which seemed very cultural and full of life compared to some of the cities he had been to.

"Any cities like this in your dimension?" asked Tali to break the silence.

Jastis shook his head, "Not any Human cities, but some of the other races may have had. But I can't say for sure as I never visited any. Let's just say that Humanity wasn't the most liked in the galaxy."

Just then the sight of the port arose and Shepard spoke, "About to land, I haven't gotten a message so we can assume that Marcus's ship hasn't arrived yet."

Tali asked, "Where is he coming from?"

"Sol, he was already near the relay before I asked so that cut down some time. But still needs to fly over here to Rannoch," Shepard replied as they landed softly. As they stepped out Jastis saw all the kinds of ships from various races all with their own distinct style but at the same time all had a sense of similarity between them. He gathered that it was most likely because they were all based on similar technology, but he wasn't completely sure.

A couple of Quarian's wearing what appeared to be a version of their skin suit but with notable worker colors and insignia on them noticed them landing and rushed on over. While he couldn't see their faces he could tell that they were weary of him, but they did notice Shepard and Tali. "Commander Shepard and Tali'Zorah," one of them spoke.

Shepard waved his hand, "Just Shepard. No need for the Commander part anymore."

One of them began to fiddle with their Omni-Tool, "Alright then, Shepard. We welcome you to our fine port. May we ask what brings you here? We need to make note of everyone who comes and goes."

He was straight forward with them. "Just waiting for an alliance ship to arrive and pick up our friend here," Shepard gestured to the Spartan as he spoke.

"Thank you. Have a pleasant evening," the two Quarian's then wandered off to do other duties.

Jastis looked at Shepard. "Why are you no longer called Commander?"

The former Commander looked at the Spartan. "It's a long story; if you stick around long enough maybe you will hear it."

The Spartan smiled under his helmet, "I hope I do." Granted he wouldn't stay to hear it if it meant not being able to go back to his dimension, he still had much to do there. His duty as a Spartan wasn't over yet.

It was a while until Marcus's ship, the large and slick SSV _Colorado_, to arrive, but it didn't land on the planet like Shepard thought it would. Instead a drop ship came down and arrived just ahead of them. Marcus, a medium-height man with brown hair, blue eyes, wearing the standard Alliance Captain attire walked out of the drop ship with one Alliance Soldier and next to him a blue colored woman, at least he assumed, stood next to him on her Omni-tool. She didn't have hair but what looked like tentacles going to the back of her head.

Each of them saluted to each other. "Shepard," Marcus spoke as he looked at the three.

"Captain Marcus, it's good to see you. This is the Spartan I mentioned to you in the message," John stated.

The Captain nodded his head; he was impressed at the Spartan. "So I see," he looked at the Spartan inspecting him, "Willing to explain who this is and why it was important to call me out here?"

Shepard nodded his head, "Sir, this is Spartan-015 and this may sound crazy but this man, is from another dimension, one that the System's Alliance doesn't exist, no Quarian's, no Asari, in fact the only similarity we see so far is that Human's exist in both."

There was silence for a moment, and then Marcus just laughed which Jastis found odd. "You know, if you were told me this before the discovery of the Reapers and that God Child AI thing, I would call you crazy but after all of that, I can believe this."

"He also wishes to be with the Alliance while he is here. That is why I called you here. He agreed to it obviously, and it's better to have him work for the Alliance then sit around doing nothing until he finds a way back home."

"Alright then, if you're going this far for him, I will see if I can get him in. If there isn't anything else, we will be going then."

The Commander shook his head, "Nothing else. Good seeing you and good luck Spartan." him and Tali turned and hopped into their vehicle and they flew off within seconds. Marcus signaled for Jastis to follow and they entered the drop ship.

**June 6****th****, 2191 – Perseus Veil – Tikkun System – SSV Colorado – 1700 Hours.**

They hadn't left the system yet, and Jastis simply sat in the debriefing room waiting for the Captain to come back. The Alliance Ships were different then the UNSC ships, but not far different then the _Infinity_, it had a dark blue and silver tint to everything rather than the standard UNSC grey which was hardly pleasing to look at. Aside from that it still felt a bit alien, it was strange to be on a ship with other Humans but the ship not being an UNSC ship.

While he waited, he was given a Codex which luckily transferred into his system's file so it was readable. It was good to get some knowledge about where he was so he didn't feel so out of place. He read about all of the races and their histories. It was all so different from his own universe and almost unimaginable how short their first contact war lasted compared to the Human-Covenant War.

He also was interested in how they treated AI's, it seemed until the end of the Reaper War, they were outlawed, ever since then the law has been loosened as Geth have begun to be everywhere and integrated into Society. Another odd thing was how they were AI's with bodies; it would have been odd to have seen Marsiani with a physical body.

Lastly the thing that interested him the most was their technology, this Mass Effect they called it, was nothing like back home. It didn't appear to be as advanced as the Forerunner technology they have gotten from their various 'caches' they have found but it was still better than lots of their own tech. It could give the UNSC an even larger advantage over the splinter Covenant Faction "Storm" and even the remaining Insurrectionists.

The door to the room opened and the Asari from earlier walked in but the Captain was not with her. "Hello, I am Varina, an Asari. The Captain will be joining us in just a moment," she moved to the table and sat down, "what do you think of our universe?"

Jastis exited the Codex, "It's quite different from my own."

"Good or bad different?"

"Can't say till I see everything first hand," He noticed she was typing something down as they spoke, he assumed probably a report. Just then the Captain, Marcus, walked in and sat himself down, while Jastis stood and saluted, even if he wasn't a Captain form the UNSC, he still was the Captain of a ship so that deserved his respect.

"To get to get familiarize with each other, I will tell you a bit about myself, Varina will do the same, and I hope you will too. I am Captain Marcus of the System's Alliance, Humanity's government and military in this universe. I am 32 years old and was born on Earth in New York, the state not the City. I have been a Captain since the end of the Reaper War, I run a tough shift, so while on my ship be prepared to work." He then passed on to Varina, he wasn't too pleased with the idea of sharing information about himself, but if he needed to.

Varina relaxed and placed her arms on the table, "Alright, so I am Varina, like I said before. I am an Asari who is currently working under Captain Marcus as part of a sort of internship with the Alliance that will also help make myself more familiarized with Human culture outside of just seeing one on the Citadel. I am also 152 years old and was born on Thessia, us Asari live for quite a long time, I hope that was in the Codex."

Jastis nodded and she smiled. He also remember that it said their race was all female, which unlike anything from his own universe. It took him a moment to think of what to say, "I am Spartan-015, part of the UNSC, the Human Military group of the UEG, the first stands for the United Nations Space Command and the latter stands for the United Earth Government. I am a Spartan, a group who I will keep classified at the moment even if the UNSC doesn't exist here. But I will say the Spartans; we were made to protect Earth and all of her colonies. Any further information I can't divulge."

Marcus seemed satisfied, "Well at least you were able to share that much with us. Spartan-015, I have been thinking it over before coming in here, and I actually have a mission you could do if you're up for it."

"I am," he stated bluntly.

"Great, I will send you all of the details. For now," he looked over at Varina, "please bring Spartan-015, to the armory; he doesn't appear to have any weapons on him. If need be have the armory master teach him how to use them probably won't take him long to get a hold of it."

"Yes Captain Marcus, please follow me Spartan," she and the Spartan stood up and Jastis saluted Marcus as they walked out. Once the door closed Marcus began on a terminal which came out of the table.

"Best send this information to Hackett."

**June 6****th****, 2191 – En Transit - SSV Colorado – Armory – 1800 Hours.**

"Lastly this is the Vindicator, a burst-fire rifle," as the Armory Master shot out a couple bursts. Jastis decided that is what he would take with him. They had been at this for an hour of the Armory Master showing him their entire weapon tech.

The Armory Master was Dean Uvan, a Human and War Veteran who survived the Reaper War while being on Earth the whole time. "I will take the Vindicator, the Javelin, and lastly the Claymore."

Dean handed him the weapons, "Whatever you want big guy, you seem like you could even hold a fourth weapon with how much weight you seem to be able to carry. Take this M-12 Hornet SMG, just in case." the Spartan took the weapon.

He was already familiarized with all of their weapons and how to use them, it was different but a Gun is a Gun and he will use it just like he used them in his dimension. Just then he got the information for the mission.

They were heading to a place known as Omega, an asteroid city, full of thugs, pirates, and various factions fighting over for control. The image they showed almost reminded him of High Charity, but a lot smaller. Apparently some Alliance soldiers have been kidnapped after visiting and insulting some of the wrong people. The people they insulted were the Blood Pack, and while the mission is to rescue, it does state low chances of their survival.

"Well, let's get this going," he stated leaving the armory.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Wow… I can't believe it… I got another chapter out in such a quick time… Months down to a day! I guess when I wasn't dealing with premade characters I can do a bit more. But I won't avoid all premade characters forever. **

**Also 574 views on the 23****rd****! Holy crap! :D I hope all of those readers are enjoying it. **

**Just a clarification, Omega in ME3 was taken over, now with OMEGA DLC announced, I will assume that Omega was retaken and has gone basically back to what it was before Cerberus took it over.**

**Hope you enjoy the battle scenes; I am not too big on the real in-depth reason behind what tech is better so I will admit what beats what will be sort of glossed over. Also tell me straight if Jastis is shown as over powered. I will change it if many think so. Please give examples. **

**Enjoy!**

**June 7****th****, 2191 – Omega Nebula – Sahrabarik – Omega – 0400 Hours**

They arrived at Omega early in the day, but the SSV _Colorado__**,**_didn't dock but instead sent a drop ship to land the Spartan in. He would be going in alone with no support. No Alliance symbol either, no one in the Blood Pack would know this was an Alliance job. Not that the Alliance doesn't have a reason to go in, Omega was practically open season for everyone.

Jastis stepped out of the drop ship and waved off the driver and it lifted off. "Good luck Spartan," Marcus told him over COM and then it went dead. Immediately as he entered Omega he could see the filth and sorry state of its inhabitants. He was lucky his helmet had its own venting system as the stench was horrible, the mixture of the dead and trash that littered the ground.

On his HUD, the waypoint to the general area of the specific Blood Pack that took the soldiers was highlighted on his map. He got many dirty looks as he followed it, he was taller than most of the people there aside from the Krogans which vaguely reminded him of Brutes but reptilian instead of mammal. Eventually when he was getting in distance of his target point he slowed down and began to take other paths.

Climbing up on various buildings and balconies he got a layout of the area which told far more than a simple HUD map. He could already see two Blood Pack Vorcha standing guard. Out of all the new races the Vorcha were the only one to truly disgust him, they looked like their skin had been badly ripped up and to him like their guts were about to rip out.

The Spartan slipped into the shadows and moved silently across the ground and got to the Vorcha's flanks. He rushed out at them and pulled out the combat knife they gave him and stabbed it into the throat of the Vorcha; just as the other reacted he pulled out the Hornet and shot the other in the head. Once they hit the ground he made his way down the steps into the complex but slowed down as he got closer to the end and hugged the wall.

Looking out into the next room through an indoor window he saw what he was dealing with. He turned on his VISR which outlined all of the tangos in the room. There were Two Vorcha's and their Varren sitting next to them, above there were two Krogans and a Vorcha next to them. He was outnumbered, but he was a Spartan and had the element of surprise.

Crouching he leaned out a bit and took a grenade which he promptly rolled it over to the Two Vorcha and their Varren which in seconds before they could escape were engulfed in an explosion. One of the Vorcha lived through and gathered behind cover gravely injured, but the other Vorcha and the Varren were dead. Above the Two Krogans and Vorcha began to fire, but one Krogan jumped down to the ground below and instead of getting into cover rushed forward at his spot.

Jastis took out the Claymore and readied for the right moment when the Krogan was close enough. Just as they got close enough, Jastis jumped out at the Krogan who wasn't expecting someone his size, and stabbed the Krogan near his eye, stepped backwards and immediately shot him in the face twice killing the Krogan. Rounds of bullets began to graze over his MJOLNIR armor but the shields were keeping tough but not for long.

Getting into cover behind a bunch of metal boxes he looked at his options. Taking another Grenade he vaulted outwards and threw it at the two enemies above which rolled both out of the way. That gave him time to run over and kill the Vorcha below with a couple of shots with the Vindicator. Finding the stairs he ran up them and caught up to the two who were still getting up. Despite the close range, he took out his Javelin and shot them both precisely in the head as they stood back up.

Now the whole place was on alert and he needed to find the Alliance soldiers. Moving down the hall he continued through the complex and stopped and stopped for a moment as two Varren ran at him from his flank. Even with his weight the Varren knocked him over and tried to bite at him. The Spartan kept the Varren's head away and broke its neck which let out a small whimper. He then moved away before the next Varren could try and make a jump and shot him with the Claymore which made the Varren splatter against the walls.

He was amazed as the sheer power of the Claymore; any normal Human would have trouble shooting it. Perfect for a Spartan. He reached the end of the complex where he found himself in a large open room where Five Krogan and one special Krogan in different armor stood. "Human, if that is what you're. Stand down, and maybe we will spare you," the Krogan in special armor spoke to him.

_I doubt he would anyway…_

"How about **you **stand down, release the Alliance soldiers, and you can walk away alive," the Spartan taunted the Krogans. Without further taunts they stormed at him and Jastis pulled back into the Hallway for which two of them followed. As he ran down the hallway he stopped and turned to face them without losing momentum and ran back at them. They began to shoot but he jumped with all of the momentum and as he glided through the air over them shot them with the Claymore straight through their helmets and into their head. The second one remained and Jastis finished him off with his combat knife.

Two down, four to go. He knew they would be waiting for him and wouldn't run into the hallway and die themselves. If he ran out his shields which were just rejuvenating, would surely fail and the bullets pierce the armor. On his VISR he could see the outlines of two more Krogans who were hugging the walls waiting for him.

Jastis looked at how many grenades he had left, one. Perfect. He activated it but then held it for a bit and then threw it and instead of it rolling or bouncing it exploded as it hit the ground sending the two Krogans flying back. He rushed back into the room and finished them off with the Claymore which was running low on ammo. With them dead he faced towards the last two when suddenly a purple glow went around him and he wasn't able to move as fast.

_This must be the biotics from the codex… _

"Finish him off," Stated the Krogan as the other rushed at Jastis and slammed into him. Just then the biotic stopped and Jastis was sent flying into the wall. He was able to catch his ground and land on his feet but the Krogan was back at him again. Jastis held out his arm and stopped the Krogan mid rush. There was a struggle for a moment as the Krogan was strong on par with an Elite or Brute, or even a bit above the two.

They stayed in a deadlock for a moment but the Spartan with his MJOLNIR began to get the upper hand but only just barely. Jastis broke off for a moment and blasted the Krogan with the Javelin which went straight through him and hit the wall. The Krogan fell to the ground and Jastis saw the Special Krogan in awe, "I can't believe you just killed each of them! What are you?"

Jastis ran up to the Krogan who began to use his biotics and slowed down the Spartan. Who then took out his own shotgun and rushed over to the Spartan while he was slowed. But just as he hoped, the biotic fell off as he got close as his focus was down. Jastis took out the combat knife and began to knife Krogan all over. The Krogan got off one blast and hit the Spartan's shoulder, its shield held for a moment but then fell and the blast did a bit on the armor but nothing the nanobots in the MJOLNIR [GEN2] can't fix.

Flipping quickly to the Hornet he shot down the Krogan and finished him off. "A Spartan," He finished. This was just a small group of these; he could only imagine having to fight platoons of them. If he was going to stay here for a while, he would need a squad. Going into the backroom he found cages and the Alliance soldiers in them. There was one beheaded with the body a bit away and the blood of them scattered. The three others sitting down and one standing up and the cage, only one to react to the Spartan's presence.

"Are you here to save us? We fucked up… _bad._ We need to get out of here," The soldier pleaded.

The Spartan busted down the cage doors and let them out, but before he left he grabbed the dog tag of the Alliance soldier. Even if he wasn't from this dimension, a soldier is a soldier and he needed to be remembered. He stopped the Alliance Soldiers, "I will lead, let me radio in."

Jastis headed in front of the soldiers with the Vindicator out and ready, he turned on the COM channel. "Captain Marcus, this is Spartan-015, I have the Alliance Soldiers, four are alive, one is dead, and we're heading back to the dock."

"Roger that. The drop ship will be there to evac you," Marcus spoke on the channel.

Before they left the large room, he signaled them to pick up the guns from the Blood Pack in case they run into any other trouble. One of the soldiers asked, "Who or what are you? To have done all of this damage?"

"A Spartan," he responded, "It's a bit of a story…" For the remainder of the time the Soldiers were silent but he could see it in them that they were happy to be out but distressed at their fallen comrade. Lucky for them, no other Blood Packs arrived. He had done well for his first job. They exited the complex and ran out into the alleys of Omega. In the shadows they walked, following the hulking Spartan until they reached the docks.

As soon as they got in range the drop ship opened its doors and the Alliance soldiers rushed in and the Spartan followed after.

**June 7****th****, 2191 – Omega Nebula – Sahrabarik – SSV Colorado– 1000 Hours**

Jastis once more sat in the debriefing room waiting for the Captain. The Alliance Soldiers were being taken care of and the family of the dead soldier was being informed as he sat in silence. Even for a Spartan, it was odd to be already in the fight for a universe he held no value in, yet he was eager to get into the fight and when he did. It was Spartan-level job. "Good job Spartan," his head flew up as he noticed the Captain walking in, "It's truly sad that the one soldier was dead, but it couldn't be helped. Despite how hard it was, I hope this sends a message to other soldiers to not play with fire, because they will get burned."

"We can only hope," Jastis spoke in agreement.

"The report you filed was good. Really good… You Spartans are quite something. Only person who could match a record like that is Commander Shepard. Former Commander," He corrected himself at the end.

Jastis thought back to Shepard back on Rannoch, "I have read quite into the history of this dimension, but I guess I haven't gotten that far, did Shepard do something?"

Marcus simply nodded his head, "Shepard-He saved all of us; he was who ended the Reaper War. Once he was a Spectre and stopped a rogue Spectre Saren, then after basically dying, came back to fight the Collectors, a group of aliens that were once the Protheans but transformed to do the Reapers bidding. They had been collecting Human colonists and taking them off to make a Human Reaper. After that when the actual Reaper war began, he got all of the races to join up and fight the Reapers at Earth, the last battle of the war."

While he did do different things, it almost reminded him of the Master Chief, ironic that both of their names are John. "Sounds amazing, almost hard imagine a person like that not still being in the military even after what he did. But I must inquire… He died..?" That reminded him of what happened to another Spartan, Linda-058, who was basically considered dead but was cryogenically frozen until someone could work on her, which then Dr. Halsey 'revived' her.

"Yes, you see he was on his ship, the Normandy and it was attacked by the Collectors, now this was their first time ever seeing them and had nothing to react. He tried to save his pilot, Joker, and while they lived, Shepard didn't. He was sent flying into space with his air tube to his helmet broken, and crashed into the planet. I can't get you details after that as it's still a bit 'hush' 'hush,' but I can say that a rouge Human-centric faction got his body and revived him through a project that I believe was called Project Lazarus."

"I will need to really sit down and talk with him sometime, if I am not back home by then," Jastis responded.

"Hope you do. Well I will get back to you when you have another mission," Marcus spoke as he began to stand up.

Jastis spoke before he could leave. "Wait, you don't have another mission?" He almost couldn't believe what he was asking. In more recent time he had almost become lazy and hoped for no missions. Something had changed in him after the war ended and he began to train Spartan-IV's. He stopped acting like a Spartan.

It hit him at that moment that he needed to step up his game and start acting like a Spartan. Marcus shook his head; things are a bit peaceful at the moment. But I will make sure after some talk with my superiors to get you on the next mission. For now just stay around the ship and socialize."

Socialize. Like actually talk to other people when not on a mission? He wasn't used to that, not even after the Great War, he was even a bit of recluse to the other Spartan-II's and the IV's. This would be a long rest of the day. "Yes… Sir," He saluted to the Captain as he walked out.

**June 7****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – 1100**

Fastina Nar Nusha, a Quarian hung her arms over the railing in the Presidium commons. She was bored and currently out of any real job to do. She was an odd Quarian, she was as inept at technology and she was one of the very few Quarian biotics. "What will I do…?" She spoke softly to herself.

She looked out at the water. She also ran from home, made herself an enemy of her family who now no longer wanted to see her. Fastina regretted what she had done, it wasn't even terrible, but to her family it was unforgivable. But there was no need to brew over it anymore, it was in the past.

Suddenly she got a message on her omni-tool. "What is it now?" She looked at her omni-tool and read the message. It was from Esona, her friend.

_Fastina! I haven't talked to you in ages! I heard you were on the Citadel; I am there as well if you want to meet up and hang out for a bit. _

It wasn't the best, but she had nothing else to do.

_Let's go meet up with Esona. _


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Another chapter! Hope you're enjoying it! I have gotten 422 visitors this month! Awesome! :) And my view's count has risen over 574 on the 24th! Meaning more people saw this Fic yesterday, then on the 23****rd****! **

**Once again, I don't own Halo or Mass Effect, Halo is owned by Microsoft and 343i, and Mass Effect is owned by EA and Bioware. **

**Also just a fair warning, this Fic will be hugely OC's, that doesn't mean there won't be non-OC's (there will be some major characters from both sides in this), but for the most part the main characters will be OC's.**

**Also I have edited Chapter 1, and 4. Originally I stated the armor was the Mark VII, this is incorrect and actually meant to say [GEN 2], which is the Second Generation of MJOLNIR armor which Jastis would be wearing. **

**Enjoy!  
**

**June 7****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – 1200**

It took her a bit but Fastina eventually arrived at her destination, Purgatory Bar. It wasn't her ideal place to be, but her friend was in there. Somewhere in the horde of people she was waiting. She wasn't too happy to be there, Quarian's even after the war aren't still well received and she feared something would happen. Slowly she walked into the Bar and up its step and soon enough saw her friend waving her arm frantically.

Esona herself was also a Quarian, but unlike herself was on her pilgrimage. At least she is supposed to be focus on it. Her friend wore all black and her hood covered most of her helmet which Fastina wondered why as it made it harder to see. Although for Fastina it was hard to judge as she wore armor over their skin suit. When she got over there Esona patted her back. "How have you been?"

Fastina shrugged, "Fine I guess. How about you? What are you doing on the Citadel?"

Her friend slouched and sat in a nearby seat and placed her hands on the table in front of her, "Alright, it's been sort of hard lately being on my pilgrimage. You got kicked out before you had to be sent out on yours, lucky you."

"I wouldn't say I am lucky. I miss the flotilla and Rannoch but… Knowing I was in the same area as my parents is just unbearable for me at the moment. You can go back," Fastina spoke as she sat across from her.

Esona folded her arms, "True I guess… But I don't know what to do for my pilgrimage. I want to be… Original!"

"Original? Good luck with that," Fastina laughed at her friend.

Her friend pouted but eventually smiled herself, "So what do you want to do? I actually have to leave soon, so I thought we would do something together."

Fastina thought for a moment but nothing particularly came up, "Don't know what to do. Sort of been just floating around since I got here. Can't say I know much of anything we can do."

"That's no fun… Want to just sit here and chat till I have to leave?"

"I am fine with that."

**June 7****th****, 2191 – En Transit - SSV Colorado – 1300 Hours.**

He had no idea what to do with himself; he already knew the weaponry inside and out so preparing was mostly useless. They didn't have anything like the Combat Deck akin to the Infinity where they trained the Spartan IV's every so often. Not even War Games to take part in. Lastly not anywhere he could go into Cryo; this would be hard to get used to.

With no other ideas he simply began to wonder the Colorado, it was smaller than the standard UNSC ship but it was good none-the-less. He stopped in the CIC and watched the crew mate's work. Most of them gave him weird looks as he was a giant compared to them and was wearing no clear sign of being in the alliance. From what he gathered everyone knew of him now but many hadn't seen him yet.

He went up to the Captain who was standing at a holographic map of the galaxy. "Sir," the Spartan spoke.

"Spartan… Is there something you need?" the Captain turned his attention to the soldier.

Jastis nodded his head, "Got any mission for me yet? Also if possible I would like to know where we're going."

"Anxious aren't we soldier? Got nothing yet, sorry. As for where we're going that would be the Citadel."

The Spartan recalled from the Codex, "That's in the Serpent Nebula, Widow System, correct?"

Marcus nodded his head, "That's right, I see you been reading the Codex."

"Not much else to do. I am used to being in Cryosleep and woken only for a mission. Only recently in my dimension did I actually get some down-time and I wasn't a big fan of it. I became too accustomed to it and I wish to improve my behavior."

The Captain moved down the ramp and stood next to the Spartan, he had to look up to see his helmet. "Well once we get to the Citadel you will have some stuff to do. I, you, and Varina will be meeting with some important people. The prospect of meeting a person from another dimension has interested them greatly."

"The council?" The Spartan asked.

"Yes, and people in the Alliance since you will be representing us while you're here."

He didn't have any further questions but he did want to make one point, "I will not be handing over my armor, and for reasons classified, I will also wish to not undergo any testing."

Marcus was taken by surprised at his words, and didn't know how to react, "I'll try and stress that to them. We will be arriving at the Citadel in nine-hours, so relax till then."

_Relax… Right. _

Without further words the Spartan saluted and walked out of the CIC. After more wondering he arrived at the ships shooting range where various Alliance Soldiers were shooting targets. He stood leaning on the wall for a bit watching them in silence from the shadows. Only few of them actually realized her was there watching them. "Why don't you take a shot?" He heard a voice and looked down at a female alliance soldier, whom he remembered saving from Omega. It was good to see her at least in order.

"I don't really need the practice, just trying to pass the time," He said as he looked back up at continued to watch the soldier's fire.

"It will take up time to do this, so come on. I saw all of those Krogan Blood Pack dead; I want to see how your skills are."

He didn't attempt to further debate and just took off the Vindicator which was still magnetized to his back and stepped into the range. Setting the conditions to high, he prepared his gun. They came fast, each target popping up and some moving around and each and every one was hit as soon as they got up. This went on for a minute and the targets stopped coming up and he was finished. All around him Alliance Soldiers stared at him in awe. "What the hell are you?" One of them stated. Same question the Blood Pack Krogan asked him.

"A Spartan of the UNSC," He told the young soldier. The Vindicator folded and he placed it on his back.

As he left the shooting range, he heard one of the comments of the soldiers. "Wouldn't want to piss him off!"

**June 7****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – 1400**

Esona left, Fastina had been told by her that she was actually got a job as a scavenger to find technology around the galaxy left after the Reaper War. Not the ideal job but she hoped to find something special for the Quarian people. Once more Fastina was left with nothing to do. Suddenly next to her a random person walked up. "Shadow Broker has a job for you."

Fastina looked at the man, "What is it this time?"

He simply downloaded the details onto her Omni-tool and left. She activated hers and opened up the file with the data in it. Apparently she was to investigate a new soldier that apparently arrived mysteriously on Rannoch. No more details were given on the soldier, but it was said that he was to arrive on the Citadel in the next eight hours and meet with the Citadel and various Alliance Heads. He would be aboard the _SSV Colorado_.

She had never told her friend but she did take some jobs from the Shadow Broker when given the chance. Fastina never did ponder much about the identity of the Shadow Broker, although if rumors are to be believed the former Shadow Broker has been killed and a new one is in its place. But she wasn't in the position to wonder or question it when they were her employer.

Now all she had to get into position and wait.

**June 7****th****, 2191 – En Transit - SSV Colorado – 2100 Hours.**

He saw from the distance the Citadel, it was quite an impressive sight to behold, but it wasn't quite as big as High Charity or one of the Halo Rings ONI had. Still impressive, as compared to the formers, this was a place of trade, not a destroyed city and a massive super weapon. "Anything like this in your dimension?" Asked Varina.

"I can't tell you what it is… But there is an object in our dimension that is ten thousand kilometers and before it was destroyed an object that was 127,530 kilometers big."

Her eyes widened up, "That is… Enormous! Also destroyed?"

Jastis looked back out at the Citadel, "It's a long story. I will say though I sadly didn't take place in the battle."

The Captain's voice went over the ships COMs, "We will be docking momentarily."

Both of them turned from the window. "Time to go then," He spoke.

Once the ship slowly docked into the dock, The Captain came down to the two of them wearing a formal officer outfit, Varina had also had changed into a formal dress. Jastis on the other hand had no such attire. "I am going to assume you have no other attire?" The Captain inquired. Jastis simply nodded, "off we're then."

Together they left the ship through the air lock.

**AN: A bit shorter but I hope you still enjoyed it. :) I hope to get longer chapters out after this one. So probably no more everyday chapters.**

**Also to answer some future questions:**

**-Will the Master Chief land in the Mass Effect universe?**

**No, as the events of Halo 4 are still scheduled to happen in this RP's timeline.**

**-Any other characters from Halo? Like the Spirit of Fire crew etc… **

**Possibly… Undecided at the moment.**

**Also to get this out… This Fic will be Arc based, so various villains throughout the storyline. But will all tie into an overarching storyline of the Spartan we know as Jastis. **

**Lastly this is what Jastis looks like:**

**Well apparently... We can't link. D: Damn.**

**Be sure to review and critique. **


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Not much to say aside from that I edited the first chapter so it finally just says that it follows the destroy ending. Also before I said I changed the Mark VII to the GEN2, now I made another mistake. See Mark VII IS GEN2, but Mark VII is probably not the same as the GEN2 armor in Halo 4 which maybe VIII or even VIX. If it is the Mark VII, I will go back and edit it. **

**The Thursday War comes out next week so I hope it clarifies this. **

**To answer the Guest Reviewer: Blu, there will be other Halo Characters in the Fic, actually quite a lot but for the first good portion of the Fic it will be just Jastis. That doesn't mean though that there won't be bits of Halo-lore in the story before then. Like you will see at the start of this chapter that I will show something's going on in the other side, but for the most part will try to stay in line with current canon. If I portray some characters wrong, then after seeing them in Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn/Thursday War/4, I will edit their portrayal. **

**Since unlike Mass Effect, there is no fiction or anything post-ME3, whereas there is post-Halo 3 stuff obviously. **

**While I don't have the whole story planned out, there is many major story plots I know for sure are going to happen. So for those who stick with the story, there is plenty to come. **

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect is owned by EA and Bioware, Halo is owned by Microsoft and 343i. **

**Enjoy.**

**2 Days Ago – June 5****th****, 2556 – En Transit – UNSC Infinity – 2100 **

Marsiani couldn't find him, nowhere in the ship Spartan-015 was. After endless time spending searching she finally found out what had happened and she wasn't happy. In the section of the Infinity, one of the windows had been broken, everything in the room was still there and the only thing that could have broken it was the Spartan's MJOLNIR. He was now out there in normal space in some unknown location and his tracker had fallen off her range.

She appeared in the ships bridge where Captain Del Rio was conversing with Executive Officer Thomas Lasky about what had just happened. "Marsiani," Del Rio spoke as her holographic form shaped, "what just happened?"

"I have no idea what happened, I tried analyzing it but there is no trace of it. It's is almost as if it wasn't there," the AI bluntly explained to the Captain who wasn't happy, "but we also have another problem, after the incident I discovered a broken window and one missing Spartan."

Lasky expression showed that he knew what she was implying, "Can you track him?" He didn't need an explanation as to how the two were connected.

She shook her digital head. "No, he is out of my range. We will most likely have to mark this KIA, his armor can go from slip space to normal space, but where he would be is anyone guesses and even after all of my calculations we will probably never know where he is and if he still is alive, he probably won't be for long…"

The Executive Officer waved his hand. "You know the drill, they will be marked MIA. Even if it's not true, I like to think in cases like this and Master Chief's that they will be found. One day."

"It's not good to keep hope like that, because one day you will be disappointed."

Thomas was different then the Captain, he was optimistic whereas Rio looked at things in a more management way and had to face the facts more so than Lasky. Even working under him though, the Executive Officer stayed optimistic. "I just can't think that way, especially with the Chief. You know the story with that."

The Captain left the two and Marsiani then processed the data.

**Current Time - June 7****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – 2200**

All eyes were on him as they walked, the massive armor soldier stood out between the Captain and Asari. They were being escorted by a Turian, Jastis first Turian he has seen thus far. From what he gathered from the Codex and seeing them, they reminded him of the Sangheili, not in physical shape, but in their very militaristic and honor based culture. He wondered if he was to work with any if that would be a problem, but he had to not try and generalize, not everyone was the same. It was hard for him to not though, he never really got to know people aside from his fellow Spartans, but it was probably best if he learned to.

Even though it was late in the Citadel's artificial time, they would still meet in the Council's main chamber. They stopped before the steps to the Council who were waiting and preparing, but it wasn't because of that but because they were first going to see the Alliance Men. The first was an older man with a scar on his left cheek and went down to his upper lip; he was introduced as Admiral Hackett. The next was a younger man with dark skin and a light blue eyes; he was introduced as General Duke. Lastly there was a strong looking woman with armor with an insignia N7 on her armor; she was introduced as Commander Rina.

"Spartan-015," stated Admiral Hackett, "got the report from Captain Marcus, might I say, I am impressed."

Jastis bowed his head, "Thank you sir."

"We all read the report, but we want to hear more from you before the meeting with the Council. As a fellow frontline soldier, I have never seen something like that in a person reports, even from the N7," spoke the N7 Commander.

N7 a Special Forces group part of the System's Alliance, who served before, during, and after the Reaper War. That had been in the Codex. They seemed like an interesting group of well-trained soldiers, but not nearly as comparable to Spartans, but still would be an honor to work with. "What do you want to hear?" asked the Spartan.

This time Duke spoke, "As we know, you aren't from this dimension, but form another that Humanity exists; may I ask are you willing to work with us? I know you saved those soldiers, but we aren't _your _humanity, and I don't want you to feel like you are betraying your home."

"Humanity is Humanity where ever it is. I am sworn to protect Earth and all of her colonies, if this means for the moment that I am not able to protect that specific Earth, but another, and then I am still doing my duty."

Hackett smiled, "I like that answer. Another thing though, I got the message that you aren't willing to share your tech from Marcus, may I ask why?"

Jastis had already well prepared for this question to arise so he didn't beat around the bush. He told the Admiral truthfully. "I don't wish to alter this dimension as much as just being here. This armor… Is special to me. I am willing to protect this Humanity, but I don't want to trade UNSC secrets, even if the UNSC doesn't exist here."

"But Spartan-" the N7 Commander was halted by Hackett. "Admiral…"

The Admiral simply shook his head slowly, "The fact that he is willing to work with us is more than enough, and he shouldn't have to trade secrets."

"Thank you," Jastis responded softly.

"Now that should be everything for now. Best not keep the Council waiting anymore," General Duke announced to the group. They all agreed, and together they headed up to the Council. As they got up there Jastis saw the four councilors. The Asari Tevos, the Salarian Valern, the Turian Sparatus, and lastly the newly chosen Human councilor Bradley. Everyone but Jastis and Marcus stayed at the end of the small bridge while the two went to its edge facing the Councilors. Despite everything that has happened, he wasn't so sure he wanted to accept Humanity as part of an alliance of aliens.

Tevos was the first speak, "Welcome Spartan to the Citadel, I assume you know each of our names?"

"Yes," the Spartan spoke. Without moving his head, he noticed the influx of people in the area's above him and around. It seemed news had spread fast of his appearance. He did how ever see one almost suspicious looking Quarian in armor.

Fastina looked out at the Spartan, she wasn't sure why she would be needed to get this information, it was practically in public, maybe there was more to it than just this? Anyway she continued to watch the events unfolding.

"Spartan-015, we have called you here as we have heard of your situation, which is quite an interesting one. A Soldier from another dimension," spoke the Human councilor. The last part surprised everyone, they didn't expect to hear that, a soldier from another dimension.

Sparatus shook his head, "Still hard to believe if this is true, even if Shepard believes it."

_Shepard? Well, guess his word reaches far places. Although based on what Marcus told me… Maybe I shouldn't be too surprised. _

Marcus spoke up, "It's true. He has shown his capabilities and he has armor and various other evidence to support his claims."

"Yes… but we wish if you could show us one of your pieces of evidence aside from the armor?" this time it came from the Valern. He decided to show them a recording from the battles he had took place in, but not the same as he showed Shepard.

"Is it possible for me to show a recording?" the Spartan inquired to the Council. The councilors looked at each other and agreed.

"Alright, you may proceed. Just communicate with my console and I will put it up on a holo screen," the Asari responded to the Spartan. His armor communicated with her console immediately and the file was transferred over, it was the same process he had done with Tali. Shortly after the recording began.

**Recording - July 24****th****, 2550 – UNSC colony Rose – UNSC Endless Night. **

Jastis was in the SOEIV, as where the ODST's he was working with. They weren't particularly happy that he was with them, but they were going to have to work together. The colony Rose was under attack from Covenant forces, there was one ship Covenant vessel in the atmosphere, but their job wasn't to rid the planet of the Covenant, it was already lost, instead they were to get to the UNSC forces on the planet and aid them getting the rest of them off the world along with the civilians.

Suddenly the SOEIV dropped, and through the atmosphere they went. Through the window he could see the whole continent getting closer, they passed through the clouds and everything was blinded for a moment. As they passed the clouds, they all got the data of their exact drop locations and made a rendezvous point.

They hit the ground with a large thud and a crater where he landed, immediately he kicked off the door and hopped out. A thick jungle surrounded him and heavy rain poured in. He got the signal from the ODST's and he met them at the point. All of them had survived, that was good, and sometimes the SOEIV pods would land in a wrong point and crash and explode, not so well.

"A Spartan," one of the ODST's Lance Corporal Rogers spoke, "guess this mission was too hard to just send us?"

Another ODST Corporal Richard responded snarky, "Shut up Rogers. We didn't need a Spartan to do this."

The Last ODST, another Lance Corporal nicked name "Rookie" simply stayed silent. Jastis had been told he was able to speak but didn't often. "Let's go," the Spartan told the three, not wishing to get into a debate about his presence.

Through the thick Jungle they moved, they could see the UNSC outpost in the distance, it was under siege. Normally they would have entered in through a pelican, but with the Covenant AA's setup it would have been shot down out of the sky. They would also need to take them down if they were to get the people out of there, they couldn't get any reinforcements with the AA either to help with it. "We're going to take down the AA to our North East first, just follow behind, slowly and silently," Jastis told the ODST's over the COM channel.

As they got closer to the AA, they stopped on a ridge above it and looked out at their forces. There was Three Elites, One Brute, One Jackal, and three Grunts. He was happy there wasn't a Hunter. He tagged on all of their HUD's the Jackal, Brute, and Elites. The three ODST's who were armed with a Sniper Rifle System 99C-S2 Anti-Materiel took them off their backs and got ready with them. "On my signal, we're going to drop them," he also took out his own Sniper.

The Elites were patrolling while the Brute simply was leaning against a wall, and the Jackal was on a high position looking out with his own Sniper. "Now!" The Spartan spoke over the COMs. As soon as he spoke their bullets pierced the air, Jastis had aimed for the Jackal and as the bullet hit its head, exploded in a fountain of blood. Two Elites were knocked over by the shots, and the Brute's head was scattered and the blood stained against the blue wall. One last Elite remained, Jastis ran out of cover, as the Elite hid from them. Sliding down the hill he landed on the same level as the Covenant soldiers, rushing at the Elite who spotted him rushed out with their Energy sword.

He pulled out his combat knife, and as he got to the Elite, ducked as the Energy sword flew over his head. Slamming himself into the Elite and knocked them over, he took the knife and stabbed it into the throat of the Elite. They still had some life in them though and they tried to bring the sword down upon him, but he simply grabbed the Elites arm and stopped it. Shortly after the Elite was dead.

Jastis stood up from the corpse and signaled for the squad to come down, they followed him into the AA. They walked into the AA where there was the core. "Lance Corporal Roger, plant the charges," he commanded. Rogers took out the charges and planted them at the core. Jastis waited, almost expecting another Covenant solider to arrive but none did.

"Charges planted," Rogers announced.

"Good, let's get out of here."

Together they exited the AA gun, and when they got far enough way, Rogers detonated the charges exploding the AA. Now the Covenant soldiers at the other AA gun knew there was other UNSC soldiers and would be prepared. There was only one more AA gun, but it would be much harder to take down then the other.

Further into the jungle they moved, on the way they had taken out various Jackals and Grunts which had been scouting out for them. The rain hadn't lightened up, instead it got harsher and made it visually harder to see as the sun set down. As they got closer the sounds of fire from the siege continued on, sometimes there was moments of silence but then fire continued. They had to hurry or the soldiers would be dead.

They arrived at the second and last AA; they didn't have a ridge like before, but they did have the thick of the jungle. There were more soldiers around this time, five Elites, two Brutes, unknown amount of Jackal Snipers, and lastly some Grunts moving crates. Unlike the casual behavior of the ones before all of the Covies were on high alert. Each of them turned on their VISR and once more tagged them.

"Corporal Richard, I want you to throw a grenade in-between the two Elites there," he pointed out two of them which were patrolling together. Each other watching the others back.

Richard saw them but looked away for a moment, "Damn Spartan giving me orders, why wasn't there another to lead us?"

Rookie sighed, "Richard, just shut up."

"Why? One of those damn Spartans killed two ODSTs back on the_ Atlas _all those years back and severely injured the other two, they're monsters, freaks. Yet they're favored, it sickens me." Richards rebutted back in a harsher tone.

Jastis knew the event of which he was referring to, all the Spartans heard of it. He was surprised though when Rogers responded back in his favor, "Richards, I don't give a damn of what you think, he is our Squad leader for this mission, and you better shut your damn mouth and follow orders. Sorry Spartan for Richards's behavior."

"It's fine," Jastis responded, "let's just finish this op."

The Spartan finished tagging the targets up and gave the rest their orders. In coordination they were able to take down the AA which exploded in a very similar manner to the first. When it was finished they moved onto the UNSC outpost who was still under siege, but with the AA's down the Endless Night was to send reinforcements and some pelicans. When they reached the outpost half of it was in ruins and the other half was barely staying up.

They could see the Jackals and Grunts firing on them and various turrets set up, but some seemed to be pulling back. Since the AA's were down, he assumed they must be worried of being overwhelmed. Getting the surprise on them, Jastis and his squad moved behind various enemies and assassinated them without alerting the rest but eventually they were spotted. Not before though Jastis was able to place a grenade below a turret giving away and cover the Covenant soldiers had.

Each of them got behind cover as some of the soldiers focused on them instead of the outpost. As one Jackal rushed over to Jastis he pulled the Jackal over the cover and broke its neck. The ODST's also took down their fair share of Covies soldiers, but just as the reinforcements arrived they had been all but wiped out by the squad.

One soldier from the outpost ran up to Jastis and saluted, "Corporal Vince, I was stationed here at this outpost; we managed to get a bunch of civilians here before the Covies began to glass, but many were lost. We already managed to enact the Cole protocol."

"You did a good job soldier. Now get everyone onto the pelicans, we're leaving."

"Thank you sir," Vince finished and went off.

As the soldier went off, he turned to his squad to which Richards spoke, "Guess you're not too bad. Still don't trust you freaks."

He was at least happy with the first part.

**Current Time - June 7****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – 2330**

Many were awed at the video, the proof of the other dimension he was from, but it didn't come to a surprise when the council asked. "May we get some context into the situation?"

Jastis bowed his head, "In my dimension, there was no Prothean technology cache on Mars, in fact the Protheans don't exist. Instead Humanity had to find its way to space alone; we had many wars between us and for that matter because of the growing insurrection against the UNSC, I was created. Spartan augmented Super soldiers to fight this insurrectionist, but shortly after we found our need else were. 2525, we made first contact with the alien alliance known as the Covenant; they declared Humanity as a pest against their religion and said we were to be exterminated. This battle you just saw was against then; the war lasted up till 2553 where a great many events lead the Sangheili to betray the covenant and joined our side if just till the end of the war. That is a quick summary of it."

"Do any of our races exist within your dimension?" asked Tevos.

He couldn't respond exactly, "I can't say for sure, I haven't seen any, it may be possible that your races do but aren't advanced from their native planet yet. As neither the UNSC or Covenant have any records of your races."

Sparatus folded his arms and stared at the Spartan, but then spoke, "What do you plan on doing now that you're in our dimension? We see this video of your fighting capabilities and they're astounding, but this humanity," he gestured to the human councilor, "isn't the same as your own, are you going to join the alliance?"

"That's the plan for the moment," he spoke but then noticed that the human councilor appeared to want to say something.

"While you're human," the Human councilor began, "wouldn't your skillset be best within the ranks of the spectres?"

He recalled to the Codex about the spectres, they worked for the council and had high authority and they had free roam through the galaxy to do all of their missions and fair amount of resources. Shepard was a also a spectre…

Once more Sparatus spoke, "Would it be wise to let someone who just arrived in this dimension to be part of one of the highest ranks?"

It was then that Marcus spoke, "I agree with Councilor Bradley," everyone looked at him surprised by his response, Jastis most of all. He looked over at Hackett who actually didn't seem surprised at all. "Spartan, I saw your report, you would make an great alliance soldier, but an even better Spectre, you can protect Humanity, hell even us at the alliance will be willing to give you some backup if the Council allows it, but you can do so much good helping everyone."

Hackett then said, "I too agree with what Marcus just said for the same reasons."

Things were happening fast, before the video he was on his way to being a full-alliance soldier while he is in this dimension but now being a Spectre. He wanted to say no, but he wasn't sure it would be right, this dimension is different, and Humanity isn't alone here. Maybe this galaxy needs more protectors then just one-sided soldiers. Jastis assumed that Marcus must have sent some information or talked to the Councilor before this meeting and just waited for the right moment.

Valern was next to speak, "It's hard to deny from the video that he wouldn't be a good assets to the Spectres, but from your background, would you be able to work with well… aliens in your case. Humanity where you came from was against the wall, hard to imagine then possibly working with all new races."

Varina then walked forward and spoke, "From the time that I have spoken with Spartan-015, he has been kind and while I could tell he doesn't exactly trust us, I think if we can show the good in us that he will eventually."

Jastis was conflicted but he was now warming up to the idea since they were now advocating it. "Spartan," Tevos spoke, "if given the offer would you accept it?"

The Spartan nodded, "Considering Captain Marcus, Councilor Bradley, Varina, and Admiral Hackett's endorsement, I would be honored if given the offer."

Each of the Councilors looked at each other and nodded to each other and then Tevos once more spoke, "May we be given your name Spartan?"

His name, he was worried they would ask, the name of a Spartan was sacred to them and to those close to them. For a moment it was like everything froze as his mind began to debate once more but then he spoke, "the name is Jastis."

This was the first time even Marcus and Varina had heard it but smiles appeared on them as he spoke it. Tevos touched the console, and Marcus stepped back leaving the Spartan standing there alone.

Tevos then began, "It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel."

Valern then continued, "Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle; those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file."

Bradley with a happy expression on his face also continued, "Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self-reliance, they are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will."

Sparatus continued, "Spectres bear a great burden. They are the protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

Tevos finished, "Congratulations Jastis on becoming a Spectre, may you make us proud during your stay here."

A smile went over the Spartans face under his helmet, it was a change of events but it was for the best he believed deep down now. But he could tell there was still much to discuss.

**AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I hope the Spectre thing didn't feel too rushed. This is the second longest chapter thus far. :D **


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Not much to say but enjoy! Also… I need to ask, I don't care much for views, but I just wonder why it seems that other cross overs are getting so much more reviews, favorites, and views compared to mine. If I am doing something wrong please tell me. D: I wish for many to enjoy this. Less and less views with each chapter. :( Well maybe I need to be a bit of patient and more views as the days ago by. Although I guess 130 minimum views per day isn't all that bad. :D **

**Like I said before, there is a lot of really good stuff that is going to happen if you stick along for the ride. **

**Disclaimer: Halo is owned by 343i and Microsoft, and Mass Effect is owned by Bioware and EA.**

**Also if you haven't noticed, the Spartan in the story image is Jastis. **

**June 8****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – 0100**

Fastina had watched the ceremony of the 'Spartan' becoming a Spectre, that was unexpected, but once that was finished they moved off to a more secure location. There was when she began to follow and track them. Using the same tech the Geth used to go invisible, she was also able to make herself hidden from the public's eye. The Council, the Spartan, and the Alliance representatives together went down an elevator which she was able to get on top of; when they exited she opened the top, hopped in, and then continued to follow them.

They eventually reached some doors with guards outside them, but before she could get in, the doors were shut. "Damn," she murmured to herself. Looking around she spotted a shaft she could take to maybe get at least an audio of them speaking. It was around the corner where no guards were standing watching. She was able to get open the ventilation shaft using her Omni-tool, and then slipped in. Luckily she was just small enough to fit and move around in the shaft.

She crawled through the dark shaft and eventually she was able to hear, and to her luck was able to see in the room. All of them were sitting around a large round table, Alliance on one side, the Council on the other, and the Spartan Jastis in the center edge of the table. They were silent as the Alliance discussed amongst them first. Fastina began to record.

"Being a Spectre means you will need a ship," Hackett began, "I suggest he is given helm of a SR-4, like Shepard with the Normandy SR-1."

"And do we just have a SR-4 lying around? That is quite a bit to give to someone who has just arrived here, even if he just became a Spectre." Bradley inquired.

To his surprise Hackett nodded his head, "We do, just fresh off the works, the SSV _Earth _SR-4. A fitting name for someone who is vowed to protect Earth and all of her colonies."

Jastis interjected, "I have never helmed a ship before, I have been trained to lead squads, but not a ship."

"Get a good pilot and crew and you will be good," Marcus added in, "with being a Spectre you will be off on missions, so you will need a good crew to back you up."

He didn't want to bother to argue, it would just be a change of pace than what he was normally used to. "And what will his crew be consistent of? Just Humans or also Asari, Turian, etc," Tevos asked them.

"Maybe it would be good to have a multi-race crew to get the Spartan accustomed to the races in this dimension," Valern suggested.

Marcus seemed pleased with that suggestion, "I suggest we do that, Jastis, even if you don't trust xeno's, but you will learn that they have only good intentions, well at least the ones who you will be working with, can't vouch for everyone, especially not on Omega."

"Well then should we start drawing out names?" Hackett accessed the console on the table and a list of names began to appear on the list.

Sparatus agreed and also accessed the console in front of him. "I got a list of names of people from all parts of the Citadel, even Quarian, Krogans, and Geth."

Varina cocked her head, "What about Batarians?"

"They still don't have a good relationship with us, you know after three-hundred thousand of them were killed."

"Point taken."

"Jastis," Hackett addressed him, "we will handle this part, and this is your first time on the Citadel, right? So go out and enjoy yourself before your back in the action." Jastis nodded not getting into any argument, Varina then volunteered to show him around to which Marcus allowed her.

While they left the room, Fastina stayed and continue to the record, this was exactly the Intel she needed for the shadow broker.

**Same time - June 8****th****, 2191 – Omega Nebula – Sahrabarik – Omega – 0100 Hours**

Mariika Venist, an Asari Mercenary former Commando, watched as people moved through the streets of Omega below her. Rumor had begun to go around that some Super-soldier had taken out a complex of Blood Pack all by himself. She smirked at the idea of some soldier smacking the living shit out of the Blood Pack. It was something she always wanted to do herself, but knew she couldn't do it alone.

She checked her Omni-tool for how much credits she had, 45,000, a decent amount after she had been paid 15,000 on her last job. Unlike others she didn't do the high-paid jobs from the Shadow Broker, instead she was more like the famous or infamous depending on who you asked Archangel, she continued to try and improve Omega in all the small ways. Though she had to admit she wasn't as big as he was.

Apparently the Blood Packs were pissed at this random attack on them, they had planned on trying to get money out of the Alliance, they probably wouldn't have complied with money but she gave them an 'A' for effort. "Hey, you hear about that super-soldier on the extranet?" She heard a voice from below on the street level.

Intrigued she listened in on the conversation between a Turian and Quarian. "No, I didn't, tell me," replied the Quarian to the Turian.

He responded, "Well based on the news from the extranet, he is real and most likely the same that attacked the Blood Pack, but that isn't all of it, apparently they say he is actually from another dimension! They call him a Spartan."

_A soldier from another dimension? Huh, never hear of that every day._

"Really, what race is he? Is Spartan the race or a brand new one?" She further inquired.

The Turian shook his head, "No it's his class of soldier, he is actually a Human, apparently they exist in that dimension to, but what shocked people nearly as much as the discovery was the fact that they made him a Spectre shortly after showing a video of his own dimension!"

Once again the Quarian asked, "Why would they make him a Spectre?"

"Based on the reports from an Alliance Captain, he felt it would be in his best interest to not only help Humanity here, but all the races, thus they made him a Spectre so he could help many."

Mariika stopped listening after that, she heard all that she needed. If this was the very same one that kicked the Blood Packs asses, then she wanted to aid him, maybe get this 'Spartan' to help her around Omega. Now she would have to find a way to get into contact. Only problem, she had no ship to get around, maybe she would go and purchase some cheap scrap, find him, and if she could join, then scrap it. Getting down from the roof top she was on, she landed on the ground using her biotics to cushion the fall.

Her red armor shined against the lights of Omega. She moved down the street ignoring all of the other low lives. Checking her map, she was actually close to a store that sold ships, illegally or legally she didn't care, just that she could get off of Omega.

**June 8****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – 0800**

He had noticed that his armor finally was looking back to normal, the nanobots in the armor with the [GEN2] was truly impressive, it fixed, maintained, and upgraded his armor over time. It was something that was only prototyped before but was finally put into the real test with the MJOLNIR [GEN2] to which he considered a success. The Spartan could only wonder for how long they would function,

Jastis sat and finished up his meal that Varina paid for. "That was good," he told her. One of the first good meals he has had in a long time.

"Happy you liked it," he replied still eating her food and then proceeded to yawn. He then remembered that he hadn't slept. At all, he was going on his fourth day of no sleep. She probably had gotten some when he was wondering about the _Colorado_, but he hadn't. Although for a Spartan he was used to sometimes barely sleeping, but even for a Super Soldier like himself, it was bad.

She had shown a good portion of spots on the Citadel in the seven hours they toured, they had received a message from Marcus earlier stating that they had finished up and got the whole list of personal and that the SSV _Earth_, would be arriving in the Citadel sometime later that day, not all of the personnel would be on it though and lots of stocking up would be needed once it arrived. That had been over five hours ago, so he was starting to hope it wouldn't be too much longer.

The artificial day began to come in and more people were walking through the presidium then when they had sat down. Most of them going to work, others just hanging about, he didn't know if they had schools on the Citadel but he assumed as much. Over all he was impressed by the Citadel, it was artificial but it felt so alive and bustling with life. He had been told of the three battles that had taken place in the Citadel in the last few years.

First there had been the attack by the Reaper Harbinger with the Geth, than there was the attack from Cerberus, then the battle when the Reapers had come and taken over the Citadel and brought it to the Earth for the final battle.

The Reaper war… It reminded him a bit of the Human-Covenant war, both were a war of extermination. The worst kind. He was happy that they didn't have to deal with both the Covenant and the Reapers which luckily didn't exist where he was from. At least he hoped so.

Varina finished her meal and looked at Jastis who had finally removed his helmet to eat which had been the first time since they met. "What should we do next?" she asked.

Jastis shrugged, "I can't say, first time here."

"Of course, sorry forgot that for a moment," she looked around the area, "maybe we should get back with Marcus?"

He nodded his head and placed his helmet on with a hiss noise and locked it in. "I'll follow you."

She messaged Marcus who told them that he was near the dock for the _Colorado_, they were a bit away and on one of the other arms of the Citadel. Leaving the Presidium they were able to get a car to drive to the other arm. It was strange for Jastis to see flying cars, they didn't have any in his dimension, and everyone drove normal cars. In an hour they arrived at the area where Marcus was.

The Captain waved over to them and they walked over to him, he was in a good mode, to which Jastis noticed he was most of the time he saw him. "You must be tired," Jastis nodded to Marcus, "not much longer till the SSV _Earth_, is here. There you will have your own cabin and bed."

_A bed… That will be nice…_

"I assume it's called the _Earth_, in honor of those who lost their lives during the final battle on Earth during the Reaper war?" Jastis asked the Captain.

Marcus spoke softly, "For those who gave their lives for others to survive. You could also think of it directed to your dimension if you wanted to. Both our dimensions fought harsh wars. But onto other matters, I have the dossiers for all of the crewmates that will be working under you, want me to send them to you?"

Jastis nodded and opened up his Omni-tool that Varina also had bought him, he was only there for roughly four day and already in debt to someone. Although he did owe lots to the Alliance and to the Citadel for giving him this chance to be a Spartan, to be on the frontlines. Marcus looked at Varina who smiled; he got the memo that she had bought it for him, since he had no money. Although as they had been walking to the meeting, Marcus did tell him they would be giving him some starter money, but it hadn't finalized yet.

She had taught him how to use it, and it came to him easily, practically a natural. He was surprised that he was able to get it so easily to integrate with his systems. In seconds he received the dossiers but would wait to look at them until he settled into the _Earth_. He checked his clock, 1015 Military time, up for over 72 hours now and counting. Suddenly Marcus looked away and placed his hand on a sort of Bluetooth device in his hear, Jastis couldn't hear the other person but Marcus voice rose. "Great, we will be there in a short moment," he turned back to the two, "The SSV _Earth_, has just arrived, let's go see it."

They took a long elevator ride up to the dock from the C-SEC area, and that was when they saw it. The sleek white and black ship with blue stripes on it, _Earth_ written in white in one of the black spots. It was smaller than he had expected but it looked quick and with the guns he saw on it like it could pack a punch. Overall he was impressed by it as he was with most of the technology he saw in this dimension, although he did notice some things seemed less advanced but most of it was more so.

"Best not to just stand here and stare at it, let's go inside," Marcus said and the two followed him. Before they could enter they had to go through a decontamination process to which he noted would prove very useful. Once it finished they stepped inside. They were greeted to a line of consoles on each side of them and the cockpit where the pilot was, the Captain told him the one driving it was just temporary, but still they saluted them and gave their respects.

Most of the crew looked up at the Spartan in amazement and some almost in fear that this would be the new commander of the ship. "Would you like a tour of the ship? It's very similar to the ship Shepard commanded, the Normandy, with some upgrades and added rooms. Although I don't think that matters much to you," Marcus asked the Spartan when they stopped just next to the galaxy map.

Jastis shook his head, "I think it would be best if I got some rest if that wouldn't be a problem."

"Acceptable, as I mentioned earlier you have a bed, simply take the elevator here to the Captain's cabin," Marcus gestured to the elevator, "next time you wake up there will be a lot more personnel here than before. The _Colorado _will be staying here till your departure. Good seeing you Spartan."

Marcus saluted to the Spartan as did Varina, who together exited the _Earth_. Jastis watched them leave and then turned to the elevator, it worked just like in his dimension and he went to the Captain's cabin. The elevator stopped and he stepped out but he first had to walk in a small hallway to get to the cabin. When he stood in front of the door it automatically opened for him.

The first thing he noticed was how relaxing it seemed to feel, on his left there was a fish tank with no fish, he noted to get some to liven up the place. Next he saw the desk with a laptop already there and prepped, next to that there was a bathroom which would be handy. Lastly he stepped down and saw the full-sized bed with a lamp on the shelf next to it.

It almost seemed like too much for him, no other Spartan was able to sleep in such an area, yet here he was. But he couldn't think much, even for a Spartan he was tired, and without getting out of his armor or even getting under the covers, he fell flat on the bed. His eyes quickly closed and he fell asleep.

Tomorrow he would need rest, to learn his crew, and prep for departure. He had a whole galaxy ahead of him… It was time for the Spartan in Jastis to finally be unfrozen.

**AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I decided to use the SR, class ship since it's the only thing we have real visual that I can look at images or play the game to see. **

**Once again, I hope this didn't seem too rushed. While I do keep time with every scene change, I do believe I am somewhat speeding things up for arrival times. There was no direct reference to time in the games, so it was hard to say. **

**Also another character introduced, now do note, both Fastina and Mariika will be joining the crew in the chapters ahead (Chapter 8 will bring a bit of focus to Fastina.) Now it doesn't mean either will be a love interest, or who that will be, or if they even do exist hasn't been fully decided on yet. While Fastina could be sort of seen as a Merc like Mariika, Fastina isn't as full-time as Fastina is who just does work for the Shadow Broker when given the chance as Mariika is actively seeking out new jobs. While both biotics, I will make them out to be quite different fighters.**

**But yeah now that Jastis is now a Spectre and has his own ship, villains will be introduced and longer battle instances will happen. **

**While I did state that the main characters will mostly be OC… I will say there **_**maybe **_**is some Mass Effect characters be crewmates (not necessarily squad mates) on the **_**Earth**_**. Hell… I maybe just **_**Joking.**_

**See you next time. **


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hello once more! Hope you're enjoying so far. :D **

**One answer to a question: **

**To Matt Snyder – It will be a little bit of both, but the majority will be ripped from the games, probably pick a class for each of them.**

**Well that is all! Enjoy!**

**June 9****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – SSV **_**Earth **_**– 1100**

He awoke abruptly and looked around him, unfamiliar environment he quickly got up and tried to get to his gun, but after looking around again, he then remembered where he was and everything that had happened, almost still hard to believe. Jastis noticed he was still in his armor, he looked at the clock on his HUD, 1100 hours, and he had slept for twenty-four hours. The Spartan removed his helmet; he would need to get back into the old habit of getting up at 0600 exactly.

A knock on the door to the Cabin alerted him, he reached for his helmet but then pulled back his hand, he wouldn't need it on to answer it. If he was going to get these people to trust him, he couldn't just talk to them through his visor, but face to face. He walked up to the door and it slid opened, he looked down at the person.

A short woman stood there in an alliance uniform, her hair black and in a pony tail that went down to her neck. She had a bright expression on her face to which he noticed was awfully pale, even so compared to himself who was pale because of being in his armor so much. "I am your Communication Specialist Elizabeth Isenberg, it's nice to meet you Jastis, or do you prefer Spartan?" she greeted.

"Either is fine, it's nice to meet you Elizabeth," he could tell that she that was slightly intimidated by their height difference.

"Jastis then, everyone has arrived while you were sleeping, I assume, they were a bit confused when they arrived only to not be greeted by their new Captain."

_Captain… _

"Sorry, I hadn't slept in nearly four days with not much to eat, slept a bit longer than I expected. But I am fine now," he told her.

"Understandable, good to hear you're in order now. I assume then that you haven't had time to look at the dossiers? Even though I am your Communication Specialist, I was told to help you get around the _Earth_, and how to work things."

"Correct, I haven't and thank you for doing this."

She waved her hand, "Don't think much of it. Do you wish to look over them, or go and meet your crew first hand and then at the dossier after."

He thought about it for a moment but decided they have waited too long, "It would be best to go down there now, best not keep them waiting."

"Good choice, I think you will like the pilot very much, he is quite the Veteran," together they left the Captain's Cabin and went down the elevator. When it opened up, he noticed a large increase of new people, also from various species. Most of them stopped for a moment at the sight of the massive soldier, though everyone saluted to him to which he did back to them. Knowing where the pilot would be he headed past the CIC and to the cockpit.

Just before he arrived there he could already hear the pilot, "Have you integrated into the _Earth's _systems all right?"

"Yes, it's very similar to the Normandy," he noticed the voice was almost mechanical.

Elizabeth was still with him as he stopped just behind the seat of the pilot who seemed oblivious to his arrival. Jastis noticed a blue orb looking hologram which appeared to be staring right at him, an AI? "Jeff, the Captain has arrived."

Jeff turned his chair around and slowly stood up which Jastis noticed seemed tough for him, he assumed then he probably had something wrong with his legs, but if Elizabeth said he was a Veteran, he wasn't going to judge his skills based on that. The man saluted and the two of them did back to him.

"Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, but everyone just calls me Joker," he introduced himself. Jastis wanted to ask, but decided to not bother.

The AI then introduced herself, "I am Enhanced Defense Intelligence, or EDI, the ships AI."

"I am Spectre Jastis," he then announced to them, "I hear you are a veteran," he directed to Joker.

"Yeah, and the best damn pilot you will see, I previous served with Former Commander Shepard on the Normandy SR-1 and SR-2 up till the end of the war with the Reapers and briefly after that. I hope this is also another good long career."

Jastis was pleased with the response, "You may sit down."

Joker was glad to and slumped in his chair with his legs up, "Thank you."

"Well it was good meeting you both, but I need to meet the rest of the crew."

"Yes, leave me alone with the bodiless AI," Joker responded. Jastis didn't get the reference but Elizabeth seemed to have gotten it as she almost laughed but at the same time sadness in it. The pilot turned his seat away from them and the two of them turned away.

"Confused?" She stated as they walked.

"Very."

Elizabeth then explained it to him, "EDI, once had a robotic body, Joker was… quite fond of her as she was of him, but after the destruction of the Reapers, her AI core could no longer handle the body and was forced to get rid of it. Even though it's been a couple of years, they're still working on getting a working body back for her."

"Interesting…" He never thought much about the idea of a Human-AI relationship, but he had heard of weirder stuff then that.

**Same Time - June 9****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – 1100**

Fastina got all of the info she needed, all of the names of each of the crewmates and even the ship. It had taken till the next day for the Shadow Broker contact to meet her again. She stood in the Presidium like she had before and leaned over the railing. The same man walked up to her, "You have the information for the Broker?"

She nodded and sent him the recording of the whole thing, "Everything is there, I got the recording all of the personnel and the name of the ship, and some other information."

"Good, for your deed, here are forty-thousand credits," the man transferred them to her Omni-tool.

Under her helmet her eyes opened, "That is a lot more than I expected, what is," she was then cut off by the man.

He looked over at her, "There's another mission, that money should help you with it. The Shadow Broker now wants you to get onto the Spartan's ship, and try to integrate with the crew."

She backed away a bit, "whoa that is asking for a lot, I mean I am willing to do any job but is there a time limit on this?"

"No, we want you to send annually reports on the Spartan and their progress, the Shadow Broker has a client that needs it."

Fastina didn't respond for a moment and looked away at the river, "I guess I will do it," but as she faced the man he vanished. She checked her Omni-tool which had the mission on it; basically it repeated what the man had said. Most likely the SSV _Earth_, was still on the Citadel, it was now just a manner of finding it and getting on it.

That had some problems with it, first being how she was going to get on it, the other being how she would integrate into the ship's crew. Even if she went invisible, the decontamination process would pick her up on the sensors before she could get out and escape. She had to do one of two things, either try communicating the crew and help out the Spartan, or try getting in through the cargo hold.

She began to dig around for information for any new ship arrivals, which was hard considering how many ships were coming and going. Fastina began to check all of the docks, which considering how many there was, would take a while, but she struck luck when she overheard mention of the SSV _Earth_ and what dock it was at, from some people bringing supplies to it. Turning invisible when no one was looking and there were no cams, she entered the elevator and rode up to the top and exited out to the dock.

There she saw the SSV _Earth_, with people still going in and out, she saw where the cargo was being brought in, and she noticed it was less military stuff and more in line with civilian goods such as food, medicine, clothing, and such. In that area she noticed the Alliance Captain Marcus, discussing and directing what was brought in and sorted. Fastina noticed her cloak was running low on energy and she needed to find something to hide behind and take a break.

Near her she noticed some crates which no one was picking up or placing any on top, Fastina decided that would be the best option. As she moved towards it she felt as if she was being watched but looked over her should and saw no one looking in her direction. Ignoring the thought she crouched and rested her back to the crate just as the energy hit zero and began to recharge. Overall she had gotten to the half-way point, close to the elevator, but she wondered if the AI EDI would detect her going up it.

EDI, she had forgot about that, so far she hadn't been detected so was she not watching the security cams? Suddenly she heard, "And what might you be doing sneaking around here?"

She looked up and the shadow that casted over her and saw Marcus standing on top of the crate, its metal structure holding his balance. Fastina stood up in an instant and turned to walk away but before she could she was grabbed on the shoulder and she no longer could move. Turning her head, she then was staring straight into the visor of the Spartan.

"Friend of yours Captain?" Jastis asked the Captain who jumped down on the ground and landed without any loss of balance.

"No, I noticed the shimmer from her invisibility as she moved through."

Jastis turned her around, he could almost feel her body shaking from fear, "Then who are you?"

"I… I… I am Fastina Nar Nusha," she tried to explain.

"Why are you here?" he spoke with strength in his voice but he let go of her, but he made sure that she wouldn't be able to leave.

She stepped back, giving herself some space, "I was," Fastina paused and began to think for a moment, how would she lie after being caught like this, she began to regret and wished she had thought it through better. "I was sneaking in to report to the Shadow Broker." There she admitted it, now she was ready to take all blame and be thrown into some cell on the Citadel. It couldn't be worse than going home, or it could be even far worse than that.

Jastis looked at Marcus, "Shadow Broker… That's an information trader right? What would they need with information about me?"

Marcus stood silent for a moment, "I need to make a call, you watch her if you wouldn't mind."

He walked away from the two and just watched from a distance, he took his Bluetooth **(AN: for lack of a better term of what they use in Mass Effect) **and made a call to one John Shepard of Rannoch. It took a bit to get an answer but soon enough he heard the voice of Shepard on the other side.

"Marcus, good to talk to you again," Shepard spoke.

Marcus looked about so no one else could hear him, "John… Did you ask Liara to get information and track the process of the Spartan?"

Shepard was silent on the phone, "You figured it out that it was her?"

"Yeah, after all those chats we have I figured as much. Frankly I am not going to report anything because we're friends. For that I am risking much, I just have no idea what to do now with this Quarian I found trying to sneak into the SSV _Earth_ who claims to be working for the Shadow Broker."

Shepard once more silent on the other end of the call, "It's a favor, it's an interesting case and if he ever needed help, I could call in some favors. I have a good feeling about him."

It was then Marcus's turn to be silent for a moment, "Alright, I will try to get her to stay onboard."

"Thank you, good to talk to you again."

"Yeah, you too," and the call ended. Marcus looked over and saw both Jastis and Fastina still standing there. He walked over and they both turned to face him, "you're off the hook Fastina."

Both Fastina and Jastis looked at each other in confusion and it was Fastina first to speak, "Sir, I am confused. Why am I not going to be imprisoned?"

It was almost hard for Jastis or Marcus to take her seriously with how innocent she was, when they thought of someone working for a major information broker, they thought of someone slicker, menacing, and a darker appearance but she was the opposite. "Let's just say… I talked to some people and leave it at that. Jastis would you leave us for a moment, continue to look around the ship."

Jastis opened his mouth to ask but considering all Marcus had done for him up to this point, he wasn't in the best position to start asking questions. He simply nodded and left the two alone. "Fastina, listen to me, you will continue to send your reports to what you have listed," Marcus told her softly.

"Sorry, but what?" she was confused by the response; he was telling her to do her job?

"Don't ask, simply do it, I can't tell you any more than that. Simply enter the ship; I will have Elizabeth our Communications Specialist to bring you to an open room," with that, even before she could respond he was away and back directing the cargo being brought in.

She was left there standing all alone, she guessed there wasn't much else to do but just do what he said, she walked over to the elevator which Jastis had just rode up, so she had to wait until no one else was in it. Soon enough it arrived on her floor and she stepped in, she rode up to the CIC deck and was greeted to the galaxy map and saw a woman standing on the console next to it, then there was people abuzz, all different races about.

There was a level of excitement over the ship, that was nearly contagious and she couldn't help but also feel excited herself. This was actually going better then she had expected, it was a bit confusing and hazy on the details for what the Captain did, but she couldn't deny it worked in her favor. But while she was happy it did, she was more so about just being there on the _Earth_, ever since her departure from Rannoch, she had been lost but now she actually had something to do.

She just hoped it would last long, this unexpected journey of hers. Fastina had finally caught a break in the form of a Super Soldier from another dimension now Spectre. The Quarian walked up to Elizabeth who noticed her coming, "Oh, you must be Fastina, Marcus told me to show you a place to stay. Follow me."

_That was fast… Well here goes nothing._

**Earlier - June 9****th****, 2191 – Hades Nexus – Hoplos System – Trident**

It was hurricane season on Trident, a planet mostly of water. It was pouring rain in the middle of the night; vehicles were tied down to the ground in case they would get dragged into the ocean. In the mists of water and darkness, a ship landed in the distance its lights making shadows through the rain. No one could have heard it in the town below, but as it landed people in strange armor jumped out when it was close to the ground.

"You have the charges?" one of them remarked over their COM channel as they moved closer to the town.

Another showed the bag, "All here."

"Let's go," the leader responded as the ship flew off and away. It took them a bit but they eventually reached the town. It was fairly small, almost similar to towns back in 21st century earth. On their HUDs he targeted the building; it was a nice looking home for what it was worth with all of the storms. They dropped into the town and slowly moved towards the house. They got to a side of a house and the leader held up his hand and put it into a fist and everyone behind him crouched and stopped. Lights from a car still awake at this hour drove through the street.

Once it passed, he gave the signal and they crossed the street and reached the house, they checked for any security, there was minimal but it wouldn't matter as they enacted a small EMP field around the house ceasing all electronics in the house. They went around the house, they knew the plans. "Place the charges at these points," he told the squad as he pointed to a holographic version of the house at various parts of it.

In seconds they got to work, placing all of the charges. One of them asked over the COM, "Isn't this a bit overkill? Can't we just go in and kill the bastard?"

"We want them to know we mean business, I want them to fear us. Plus she commands it. We must avenge them us, our fallen saviors," the leader told them as he watched their progress. On his HUD green lights lit when each one was placed.

"They're all set, let's get back to the drop ship it should be back," he commanded and they all got back together, once more they crossed the dark and wet streets. When they passed it they eventually found themselves once more outside the town. The ship arrived again but just as they were about to get on he announced to blow the charges.

In the distance the house went up in a flaming explosion and they stepped onto the ship, it then flew back up again. "Mission accomplished," he stated.

**June 9****th****, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – SSV **_**Earth **_**– 1500**

Jastis sat in his cabin, not knowing much else to do, he had introduced himself to the majority of the crew, and it went fine. He decided if he was going to get into this Spectre job, it was best if he was up to date on the news. The Spartan now out of his armor and actually in some decent clothing that was quickly made for him turned his chair to the laptop on his desk.

He could see his armor and it's under suit hanging, with the nanobots doing their work. But his attention was then brought to the screen as he turned on the news. It was the ANN or Alliance News Network, at first it was just reporting on just some trivial things but then it turned to something more interesting and he turned up the volume.

_"Earlier today on the planet of Trident, the family of Commander Aldu Yin was found dead after their house exploded to what appeared to have been charges based on reports and analysis of the site. Aldu Yin was one of the Commanders that took part in the Reaper War and along with many others fought on the final battle at Earth. _

_This is the third incident of this happening in the past sixth months; all who were found dead were those who had taken place in the battle for Earth. Alliance officials now believe this is a work of an underground group of cultists known as the Reapers Children, they had been a group that revered the Reapers and pulled off many terrorists' attacks throughout the war, according to reports their attacks did stop once it ended but recently have finally begun again. _

_While it's unclear who they will attack yet, already the Alliance and Citadel forces are trying to find and stop them."_

He turned off the news, and thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that this should be his first assignment. Jastis called over to Marcus through his laptop who responded with audio only.

"Captain Marcus," Jastis began.

"_Jastis, to what do I owe the honor? I hear your ship is soon to leave," _Marcus replied.

Jastis stood up and then faced the laptop again, "Can you make a quick meeting with the Council?"

"_I can try-but what is the occasion?"_

The Spartan smirked, "You have heard the news about the late Commander Aldu correct?"

"_Yes but I don't see what that has to," _Marcus went silent for a second but then was back on, _"I get it, you want to see if they will allow your first mission to be to track down the Reapers Children. I mean as a Spectre you know you aren't forced to ask…"_

"I know, but it would be best in my opinion if they knew what I was at least planning to do, I will need to get Intel, anything I can get on this cult."

"_I will see what I can do."_

**AN: And that's the end of Chapter 8! Hope you enjoyed it, and the first villains have been introduced, the **_**Reapers Children**_**, not the most original name but I thought it shall be quite fitting. This will be the first major arc in the storyline. **

**Also now that I did indeed have Joker and EDI in, I hope I can pull it off having them in. **

**If you're wondering why I made it so EDI could no longer have her body, it was because I just didn't like it. It just felt so odd in ME3 with her having a body, but like Elizabeth stated they're working on getting her a body so maybe I will address that later in the Fic. **

**I didn't show Mariika in this chapter but she will be in the next and so enough on the squad as well. Also when it comes to the crew, I will be showing them off as it shows fit for the story. **

**I don't plan on skipping much time through the story, so there will be no skimping over details and such. **

**Once again thanks for reading, review, critic, and yeah. :D **


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Another chapter! So if you're wondering how I pump these out so fast, well despite being in college, I actually have a shit ton of free time to write, plus I am really getting into the swing of things. **

**Although I don't know how many people Chapter 8 is out. XD Since for some reason the story never went to the top of the Halo crossover page when I released it. Thus it didn't look like it updated when it did. **

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect is owned by EA and Bioware, Halo is owned by Microsoft and 343i. **

**Enjoy! **

**June 9th, 2191 – Serpent Nebula – Widow – Citadel – SSV**_**Earth**_**– 1600**

"Weren't we supposed to be off the Citadel by now?" Joker asked EDI as he continued to do some extra checks on the _Earth_.

She materialized in her usual form, "Spectre Jastis is currently talking to the Citadel about the first mission. He then plans to announce it to the whole crew when he is finished."

Joker smirked, "I wonder if he will make a speech like Shepard did? That would be nostalgic."

"It's unlikely," EDI responded.

"Well at least we're back in the action, another journey with another Spectre, wonder if we can survive this one."

"We will Joker."

**Communication Room – 1600**

"_Against the Reapers Children?" _asked Tevos over the hologram channel. He could see all of them standing there.

The Spartan nodded, "I saw the news about them killing Commander Aldu Yin; it's horrible that there is people out there that believes the Reapers your dimension fought were some Gods. As they're active threat to anyone who took place in the war, I would find it good to go after them for my first mission as Spectre."

"_We shall authorize it, is there anything else you need Spartan?" _the councilor asked again.

"Yes, I was going to ask if I could be sent all intelligence on them so I know where to look, meaning all records each military has."

Sparatus spoke, _"That can be arranged. If that is all, we will talk to you again on another day." _

The hologram channel was closed and he stepped off the small pad and once out of range the table rose up from the ground and reconnected as did all of the chairs. It was a nice piece of tech that he would love the UNSC to get a hold of, would be very useful, he did believe the Covenant had similar tech already so for all he knew they could be using already. ONI does hold its fair share of secrets.

He exited the Communication Room, he was getting used to being out of his armor but wasn't fond of it, he felt safer in it. It would take a while for it to stop but he was still get eye balled by people as he walked by them as he stood taller than anyone in the ship. Jastis moved to his left and passed through the lounge and nodded to the crewmates on their off duty and exited the room to the CIC. The ships layout he was told was more akin to the design of the original Normandy SR-2 before the alliance retrofitted it for the War. "How did the meeting go with the Council?" asked Elizabeth as he walked over to the galaxy map.

He walked over to the console that was next to the galaxy map, on the opposite of Elizabeth, "Good, I am on the case now to stop the Reapers Children. Just need to wait for them to deliver all the Intel they have on them."

She got a gloomed expression on her face, "Guessing that means we won't be leaving port anytime soon?"

"Sadly, yes. We have no plan of attack so to speak, and did this get set up yet, my email with the internet?"

Elizabeth turned her head, "Internet?"

For a Spartan it was a rare occasion but his face did get a bit red, "Sorry, _extranet_, going to have to get used to that as well."

"Hasn't been called the internet in years, in this dimension, but now it's the extranet, but yes it's up and working for you, accessing it should be fairly easy."

It was, he was able to access it within seconds, and it was going pretty fast which was explained to him shortly after. In a small email he clicked it stated a bunch of tidbit information about things for Spectres, things that may have been overlooked or just too small to mention in briefing, apparently the extranet was free to everyone but those who paid got it faster, a Spectre got it fast for free. There was other information but it wasn't very important, but he saved it for a later time just in case he forgot which he didn't plan on.

Suddenly he heard on the ships COM's EDI's voice, "Spectre, the Intel you requested from the Citadel has arrived, and you should have access to it now."

"Guess I have some reading to do," he turned and opened the elevator to which some workers stepped out. Once they were out he rode it to the Captain's Cabin. Exiting him quickly entered his room and sat down at his personal laptop and began to read over the information. Luckily it was organized into three categories, Specific Personnel, Attacks, and Raids.

He started out in the Personnel section and began to read all of those known to be involved or was involved.

_Name: Yiean Reio_

_Race: Turian_

_DOB: Unknown_

_Yiean Reio was the leader of the Reapers Children up to the point of the Raid on the base Lost Hope (See Doc. A121.) He was the founder of the RC and was a former soldier in the Turian Military. All records aside from that have been lost after a cyber-attack a year before the war against the Reapers by an illegal AI. [As of after the war, some AI's aren't legal.] _

_No more information about who succeeded Yiean Reio after his fall. _

He continued on to read more files of people who were killed or known to affiliate with them, like Yiean all of them had all personal records erased by the same illegal AI.

_Illegal AI _

_Designation: Unknown_

_It is unknown who this AI is or if even the RC created it, but it is a powerful AI, on par with Former Commander Shepard's AI EDI, if not more powerful. It operated differently than any known VI or even AI. Only thing that was found after the cyber-attacks was a message:_

_YOUR END SHALL BE OUR SALVATION. _

He did smirk at the quote, it was hardly original, and then again neither was Reapers Children. It did make made him stops for a moment though, a powerful AI unlike EDI, he wasn't exactly sure how the AI's in this dimension were different then his own, but it would be work looking into. It did cross him mind of the possibility of this AI also being from his dimension, he didn't know how but it was a possibility. If he ended up here, who knows what else did. There could be Covenant still believing the war is going on that are marooned on some world.

Jastis moved on then to the next section…

_Date: 07.02.2186_

_Location – Earth – North America – Chicago _

_Despite the Reapers attack, the Reapers Children still attacked a military outpost, it was clear some were indoctrinated, others simply fanatic and crazy. _

_Ten Marines Killed (See Doc. A023)_

_N7 Phil Trent Killed (See Doc. A024)_

_Four Civilians Killed (See Doc. A022)_

_Date 07.23.2186_

_Location – Citadel - Presidium_

_Even before the attack on the Citadel by Cerberus, a local store selling weapon mods and all near stores around it exploded when planted charges were denoted. _

_Twenty-Six Civilians Killed (See Doc. A022)_

_Commander Isan Killed (See Doc. A024)_

_Four Marines Killed (See Doc. A023)_

_Date 08.07.2186_

_Location – Eden Prime – North Town_

_Before Cerberus invaded, the small Town of North was massacred as families began to send their sons and daughters who were in the service off to the nearest Alliance Base. _

_One-Hundred and Forty Civilians Killed (See Doc. A022)_

_Fifteen Marines Killed (See Doc. A023) _

The list continued on for a while, later on he would go in and even open the various Documents it listed. Needless to say he had a real motive now he only got a hint of from the killing of Commander Aldu, these were murders, psychopaths, and they deserved to be put down. Lastly he clicked on _Raids. _

_Date 7.25.2186_

_Location – Viron VII – Asteroid Belt_

_The base was on a large Asteroid and well hidden, but after gaining some Intel a group of Marines and two N7's raided the base. There they didn't find much as most of the data was deleted before it could be accessed, but they were able to take down a large number of Reaper Children with zero casualties on their side. _

_Date 11.06.2186_

_Location – Mavigon - Lost Hope_

_Stronghold for the leader of Reapers Children on a large scale, a platoon of soldiers were sent in with multiple N's with them and even some N7's. During the battle many lives were lost on both sides but in the end the leader now identified as Yiean Reio, was found and killed. Originally they were to capture, but a marine who will be kept unidentified, shot the Turian after having lost relatives on Eden Prime to them. _

_Twenty-Two Marines Killed (See Doc. A023)_

_N4 Brian Votex Killed (See Doc. A024)_

_N3 Jim Rayel Killed (See Doc. A024)_

_Forty-Eight Reaper Children Killed (See Doc. A025)_

_Note: Despite the killing of Yiean Reio, there is a now by evidence a new leader with attacks following up to the end of the war, who this is or any other base of operations have yet to be found as of 7.09.2192 (Updated Today.)_

He bent his head down and put his hands on his head; he got his first objective, find and kills the current leader. Looking at the Intel, he saw another section_Recent Updates. _

_Date: 6.23.2192_

_Recently on Omega various Reaper Children have been found, while none have been traceable, their presence has been noted and increasing daily. _

Back to Omega, he stood up and immediately walked to the elevator at a fast pace, and soon arrived on Deck 2 and the CIC, he nodded to Elizabeth who noticed the determination on the Spartans face and assumed he had a plan. Passing all of the crewmates he made himself to Joker at the helm that noticed him this time and swirled his chair around.

"Anything you need Spartan Soldier-Guy," Joker asked.

He didn't find it particularly funny but it didn't distract him, "Joker, I have our first destination. Omega."

"Omega, bundles of fun if you like being shot," he turned his chair back and began to prepare. EDI then announced over the COM channel that they were about to leave port and their destination being Omega.

EDI appeared again, "I assume this is based on the Intel sent to you about the Reapers Children?"

"Reapers Children? Those psychos? Sure you want to mess with them? They may just die on Omega without our intervention, well we can hope." Joker remarked.

Jastis nodded, "Yes, we plan on going and stopping them before they can hurt anyone else."

Joker didn't turn his head but did turn his head to Jastis, "Want to make a Captain's speech to the crew before we go?"

"I am not sure-" he wasn't one for speeches, never had to really make any, also he wasn't prepared.

"Nope, you have to. Shepard did it, you being the new hero guy you have to do. It's mandatory," Joker was already about to open the ships COMs.

"Hero guy? Is that what I am now?"

"Yup, now talk to your crew," he opened the intercom and he went silent.

The Spartan sighed but complied with the pilot's wishes, "This is your Captain, Spectre Jastis-015 speaking." He noticed it felt weird referring to himself as Spectre and not Spartan.

Everyone stopped what they were doing in the ship, and Fastina had just got back from getting some extra stuff for the long trip.

"We're going to Omega, to stop the Reapers' Children from bringing harm to anymore people. It will be dangerous, they threaten all species, and they condemn others to death to please false gods, a race of genocidal AI…

Omega is where we will go. The trail is nearly cold, and I don't know if we will find them there, even if they are, I can't even say how long it will take to find them.

I know that I am new to this, new to this dimension, I may not know most of your ways, but something as vile as the Reapers Children is universal. Commanding a ship was something I never imagined - none of this is, but I am here. I know I don't have any stake in this galaxy, I don't even have a home, but I will work my hardest to prove to you that I am worthy to be a Spectre. But more importantly, your Captain. The only thing I want from everyone is their determination and patience. _We_ will get them."

The intercom turned off when he stepped back a bit signaling he had nothing further to say. Joker smirked, he was impressed, "Good words, you should do more speeches often, boosts morale. I think your UNSC back in your dimension would be proud."

EDI spoke before he could, "I agree with Joker."

"Thank you, both of you," while he wasn't a religious type, he did hope that the Spartans that didn't survive were watching over him and believed in him.

"Want to stay and watch us hit the Mass Relay?" Joker asked the Spectre.

Without further words he nodded, he hadn't actually watched the _Colorado_ go through it, just the after effect. The _Earth_ was unlocked from the dock and began to slowly move out, Joker communicated with Citadel Control to make sure the exit was clean and easy. He noticed how smooth the ride was which reminded him back to the Infinity. In the distance he could see the Mass Relay, and other ships coming in and out of it.

Then they got closer, normally he would be afraid of this new tech, but Joker was a veteran and he had to place his faith in the pilot's abilities. He didn't know the terms but when they got close, a large almost electrical ray shot out at the _Earth_ as it got closer to the center, and when it passed by, the ship shot forth leaving a trial of blue behind it. In two minute they were in a different part of the galaxy, the Sahrabarik system.

Through the window Omega was big enough to be spotted, the sun casting shadows on it. It would take a bit to actually get there, so he decided it would be the best time to prepare.

**Fastina**

She had been lead to a room on the crew deck, which she said that since the _Earth_, is larger than the _Normandy_, that they were able to add in some more rooms. They apparently got the idea that since Shepard had squad mates on his journey, that those ones who would be on the ground level and such would require their own rooms. Elizabeth told her that she was lucky, there was only one other squad mate on the _Earth_ already so she got to choose out of a bit of choices.

Fastina decided that she would take a room with a view of space, it was a nice set up, a bed, a rack where weapons could be placed, and various things like shelves, a lamp, a closet, and lastly a desk. When she had come back to the _Earth_, she had bought a personal laptop for her to use at it. She would need it to write all of those reports to the Shadow Broker. After the speech she had returned to her room to get ready, she would go with Jastis if he allowed her the privilege.

Out her window she saw them hit the relay and be shot forward and soon enough in the system with Omega, now she knew she had to act quick. With all of her gear ready, and medigel on standby, she stepped out and moved to find the Spartan. She rode the elevator up and saw Elizabeth and decided to ask her, "Elizabeth, would you happen to know where the Spartan would be?"

The CS pointed up, "Up in his cabin getting his armor on, then down to the armory. If you're thinking of asking him to join you, then you should probably meet him at the armory if he isn't there already. Fastina thanked her and headed down the elevator to the bottom deck where the armory was. This was the second time she had been on the bottom deck, earlier when she was sneaking in, but now she was legally there. The armory was only a small part of the area, with a clear indication of when it ended and began with the ground for the armory being dark and the way to exit being the sides of two desks.

Past that where loads of boxes, still being unpacked, and moved about. Then on the other side there was a Kodiak shuttle and a spot open for another vehicle. The Shuttle Pilot/Armory Chief, and Procurement Specialist, sat with his legs up reading something on a Data pad while listening to music. She saw no sign of Jastis and decided to talk to the Armory Chief, who noticed her walking up and put down the pad and turned down the music, "Yes?"

"I am Fastina Nar Nusha, I am here to get fitted with some weapons," she held out her hand as it was human custom.

He took her hand and shook it and then let go, "Jack Barns or JB which ever you like. You can go over there," he pointed towards the weapons to which she noticed someone else also getting ready, "to get situated, just pick out what you like, if you got the funds you could also start to upgrade your own, that I can help with."

"Thank you," she turned and headed over to the armory. There she noticed a Turian, the same person she saw before. He was wearing dark grey armor, nearly black, with streaks of green going down the sides, he looked like the standard Turian outside from his left eye being patched up, and he had red face paint on him. The Turian didn't pay attention to her as she went over to the weapon rack until she broke the silence with her hand out, and spoke, "Fastina Nar Nusha,"

"I heard already when you were talking to Barns," he responded coldly to her and didn't bother to shake her hand, even if it was a Human thing, she enjoyed it as she felt she was able to connect to people if they're at least willing to shake hands. She pulled her hand back.

"And you're?" she inquired, and he actually did stop looking at the weapon and then at her instead of the profile view from before.

He folded his arms, "Rent Varkuun, _former_ Turian military."

She cocked her head, "former?"

"It's a long story, so are you too going with the Spartan?"

Fastina nodded her head, "That's the plan, I wish to ask him when he comes down. I am pretty good at stealth and am one of the few Quarian biotics."

"Good, we don't have a biotic so I believe he will find that useful, now if you wouldn't mind with us nearly at Omega, I would like to get ready, I suggest you to." He immediately went back to looking at the weapons and getting a feel for them, she could tell by the way he handled them that he was indeed military like he said.

She already knew what she wanted though, quickly she found an M-4 Shuriken, and an M-29 Incisor and readied up with ammo. Just as the door opened to the elevator and Jastis stepped out as Elizabeth said, Rent also finished and was standing there with Fastina watching as the Spartan walked over.

"Fastina, Rent," he said when he stood in front of them, he had met Rent earlier, believed he will be a good asset to the team.

Rent saluted first and then Fastina followed suit, and Jastis did such to them, "Can't wait to get into the fray," spoke Rent, "never fought with an augmented super soldier. Should be a new experience." Fastina agreed to that, never did she imagine, but like he said in his speech, there he was and so was she.

"Captain, I would request I assist you on this mission. I know my way around, know how to handle weapons, and I am a biotic, and as Rent said to me just before, the only biotic you have."

The Spartan stood there for a moment and inspected Fastina, he wasn't sure to trust her, but Marcus did allow it for his own reason. "Permission granted," he walked over to the weapon rack past them, "I will just be a moment, you two can get ready and meet me at the decontamination door."

Both of them nodded and left together leaving Jastis. He began to look through the weapons, it was about the same selection back on the _Colorado_ which pleased him. Jastis didn't realize until he heard his voice that Jack Burn had walked up, "Hey Big guy."

He turned and faced the Armory Chief who he had to look down just to see more than his hair, "Barns, anything you need?"

"Nope, just wondering if you wanted to get any of those weapons modded? I got some scopes and such."

Jastis picked up the vindicator, "This would be better with a scope, got something similar to the ACOG?" It was an older name of a scope, but he mentioned it as most likely it has existed in both dimensions.

Barns opened a drawer on one of the weapon benches and took out a scope to fit onto the Vindicator, "Yup, and right here, pretty standard way of attaching. Works with the folding tech."

After that with each weapon he got, which he chose the same as he did on the _Colorado _with the Hornet, Javelin, and the Claymore. Barns was a bit cautious as to the choice of the Claymore but Jastis assured him that he could handle the recoil, and Barns took him at it. After that he waved off everyone in on the deck and headed up the elevator.

He greeted Elizabeth as he passed by, "Good luck," she said. The Spartan simply nodded but that was enough for her, all of his crewmates saluted as he passed by knowing their mission was about to begin. They had docked into Omega, and his squad waited at the door for him.

The door to the decontamination room opened up and they stepped in, after a short minute they were out. He then heard EDI, "XO Kavin has the deck."

They stepped out into the dark damp area of Omega, It was time for his first mission as a Spectre.

**AN: Originally I had Mariika to appear in this chapter, but decided against it, instead she will be there at the start of the next chapter. Now with Rent, there is going to be three squad members so far, and after that I don't plan on having anymore for a bit so I can build up the development of the three and others and not introduce another squad member and throw it off. **

**I hope you enjoyed the speech, got some help on it (grammar wise) to make it something more than just good to great. **

**Only other thing is that I want to know if you felt how EDI and Joker have shown up to this point have been Out Of Character (OOC) or not. Please tell me either Private Message or in a review.**

**Thank you for reading and hope you watch out for the next chapter. **


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Got Thursday War and read it! Pretty good read… aside from the Halsey bashing returning from Glasslands, but overall decent read that ties into Halo 4 quite well in some subtle and others not so subtle ways. More so near the ending.**

**Now I am in a bit of a pickle, see I want to start showing more stuff on the Halo side of things, more background or just other characters, but I would have to then spoil all of Thursday War or at least it's major points.**

**Please answer in the reviews with specific responses. No matter what I will include stuff that will spoil The Thursday War, but depending on people it will be either soon or later. **

**Also I am going to edit the timeline a bit, by that I mean, currently I have it so Jastis left the Halo verse in 2557 in July. The events of Halo 4 begin July 21****st**** and since both universe moves at the same time pace, and then I am not given much room if I want to include events of Halo 4 and if I want to build up stuff in the Halo side, I am not given much time.**

**So as of this writing, the other posts should be edited to say July 2556 and not 2557. **

**Also one other thing which I will have to address, originally I stated that Jastis in his armor is 1000 pounds, in the MJOLNIR IV, V, VI, this would be correct, but being the GEN2 and lighter, it maybe around more like 800 pounds or even 600. Thursday War sadly didn't go into depth on the GEN2 armor. **

**June 9****th****, 2191 – Omega Nebula – Sahrabarik – Omega – 1730 Hours**

Jastis and his squad moved out into Omega, "First time here?" asked Fastina to the Spartan.

"No, I was here two days ago before my arrival at the Citadel. Did a job for the Alliance, saved some captured soldiers from the Blood Pack."

Rent looked at the Spartan and stopped moving, "Then should we be worried if they come attacking us? You're pretty distinctive."

Jastis stopped in his place, "We will have to be on the lookout. I didn't see any camera's in the complex I attacked, but I wouldn't doubt the news of my raid already out. If they come we will handle them." The Turian nodded in agreement, he liked the idea of that, but he knew they were after the Reapers Children, and not the Blood Pack.

He turned his head to continue walking but then was greeted by a Batarian, "Welcome to Omega, Spartan, Aria saw that you were coming and wants to know why an Augmented Super Soldier would come here."

"Aria?"

Rent responded before the Batarian could, "She is sort of the leader of Omega, queen more so. Even if there is no real definite leader. An Asari."

"Go meet her at Afterlife, you can't miss it," the Batarian turned and left.

The three turned to each other, "Aria already?" Rent commented, "I would have assumed we would need to cause some trouble first, but I guess news travels fast."

"Should we be worried?" Fastina asked.

"Only if you get on her bad side, I met her couple of times, doubt she remembers though. I would say it would be best to get to Afterlife, she probably even knows something about the Reapers Children."

Jastis nodded and they continued out. They exited the small corridor and a door opened up to their right. The Batarian had been right, he couldn't have missed it. _Afterlife_'s big letters plastered the building with a strange purple neon light above it with people dancing on it in loop. There was a line with an Elcor directing it.

They passed the line and went up the steps to the entrance where a Batarian with a data pad was standing, as the door opened he said, "Aria is expecting you." Once more they were in a corridor tinted red with holographic flames on the sides. People were sitting around and chatting, many turning their heads at the sight of the hulking soldier. Once more the words: Afterlife was on the other end of the corridor with a door below it.

It opened and let them into the nightclub, it was weird to him, and no Spartan had ever been in one before. He wasn't sure he liked it. Rent looked disappointed and told the Spartan, "Last time I was here was before the war, and this place still looks the exact same as it did back then. Though they would have changed it."

In the center was a large pillar of purple lights, and around it woman pole dancing, to his right was the bar with people around it. Knowing the way, Rent directed the Spartan to where to meet Aria. They took the right path, and passed the bar, there was a Batarian standing on guard who stared at them as he passed them. Up the steps they went with more guards above, and then he saw Aria sitting with her legs crossed and arms out over the edges of the couch. As he approached her a Batarian stepped in his path.

"I need to scan you first," his Omni-tool active and a hologram of himself appeared with various red bleeps over it. "You're clean." He finished and walked out Jastis path. Aria smirked and gestured for the Spartan to take a seat, Jastis looked back at Fastina and Rent and they simply shrugged.

He then sat down, "So you're the Super Soldier Spectre from another dimension. Spartan I hear you go by."

"And you're Aria?"

"That's right, I bet your Turian friend, Rent, told you about me."

Rent was surprised, "Surprised you remember me."

"I don't forget, so Spartan, why are you here on Omega?"

Jastis leaned forward and put his hands together, "I am here looking for the Reapers Children that according to my Intel are here. My goal is to stop them."

"To the point, I like that. The Reapers Children, those psycho's even mentally deranged consider mad. I know of them, been causing trouble for me and the various mercenary groups."

"So they're here?"

Aria nodded, "Yes, they have been in the Yezen District, anyone who has gone in hasn't come out."

_Sounds like a job for a Spartan._

"What can you tell me about the Reapers Children?"

She assumed he knew much, but answered anyway, "They're a cult, dangerous, and psychopathic. They believe the Reapers were gods and that we as sentient beings failed to ahead to them in the war."

"What can you tell me about their operation here? Aside from what you said earlier."

"To be honest we don't know much, they just arrived one day and went down to Yezen district and set up shop. Behind their barricades is unknown to us. Like I said, I tried to get people in but they didn't come back."

"Thank you," Jastis stood up.

"Get rid of them," she simply stated and the Spartan went down the steps with Fastina and Rent.

Just as they got out of her hearing range Rent spoke up, "You handled yourself pretty good."

"Thanks, I will admit, I have fought in many battles in my dimension, never have I had to sit down and chat with someone like that."

"You did well," Fastina agreed, "we can take a shuttle to the district."

"Right, let's move on."

**OMEGA – AFTERLIFE – 1750 **

Mariika sat there brooding over what to do, even for Omega; she couldn't find a simple ship. Even with her money, Omega had some standards, even if they were lower than the rest of space. The lights of _Afterlife _made her a bit dizzy, she couldn't really find a reason to stay but she still just sat there at the bar. She wasn't even drinking, her helmet was still on.

_Well… Guess that short lived hope of working with the Spartan is over…_

The Asari Mercenary sighed, she best get out there and do some more jobs to help people. She turned in her chair and that's when she saw him. It was just like the picture she saw, tall, hulking armor in white and red. Like her, he was wearing his helmet.

_Lucky!_

She wanted to move and approach him, but she didn't know how to. Simply walking up to him and asking to join him would result in nothing, she needed to naturally appear. As she thought it over she turned away so to look more natural and they stepped out of the nightclubs main room. Then she got out of her chair and began to follow them at a distance. She exited the nightclub altogether and was back in standard Omega, and saw them walking towards the shuttle.

_Where were they going?_

They got into a shuttle and flew off, shortly after she got into her own shuttle and followed them. After a short ride it was clear that they were heading to the Yezen District, she wondered why and began to think about what was going on there that might interest a Spectre. Nothing came to mind, although she did recall something about Aria's men and some Mercs going in and never returning.

**JASTIS**

They landed and got out of the shuttle, Yezen District; it was dark compared to the other parts of Omega he saw, little to no lights but just enough that they could see where to go. Each of them took out their weapons and readied up. "No hostiles spotted yet," he turned on his VSIR and nothing came up, "flashlights up."

Each of them turned their flashlights on and revealed more of the area. Only thing he could see were benches and overturned tables with scraps of food lying all around. Lots of dry blood on the walls but with no signs of any bodies. It was all silent, until something jumped out and grabbed onto Jastis back.

Rent ran over and butted what was on his back and it crashed into the ground, just as it hit Rent took out his M-358 Talon and shot twice killing the thing. Jastis turned to look at it flashing his light on it. "What is that?"

"A husk!" Fastina yelped. "What the hell is a husk doing here? Didn't they all die?"

Rent put his pistol away and took out his Revenant, "They were supposed to have, safe to assume that it's connected to the Reapers Children."

"Let's keep moving," Jastis opened the Codex and brought up the Husk and quickly read over it, they were Humans transformed by the Reapers via Dragon Teeth. Well not all Human, but the one that attacked him surely was.

After moving a bit further in to the District they began to make their way down small streets, it was completely abandoned. A red ominous tint overtook the darkness and they turned off their flashlights. As they moved Jastis eye caught something moving on a catwalk above them, but when he turned head nothing was there. "Keep your eyes peeled, we aren't alone here."

"Someone help me!" He heard a muffle voice in the building to their left, it was a house. Jastis quickly ran over to the door, it wouldn't open. He grabbed the side of the door, and began to force it to open.

They were amazed at the sheer strength of the Spartan as he pulled the metal door to the left forcing it open. He ran into the room and saw no one and moved into the bed room, there was a Human man on the bed and a Husk rushing at them. Before the Husk even got to the bed, the Spartan grabbed the Husk and swung him into the wall and then bashed its head in.

He then turned to the frightened Human, "Are you alright?"

They got off of the bed slowly, "Thank you… It got in through my vents."

Fastina and Rent joined them, Jastis looked at the vent. "Did the Reapers Children do this?"

The man nodded his head, "Yes, I was one of the few they didn't take. They arrived here a couple weeks ago and began to take people into their main base. Since then many crates have arrived and screams from people could be heard. Almost like old horror movies on holo vids."

"Where is their main base here?"

"Just continue down the street, you can't miss it. There are large barricades. Now I will be getting out of here," the man passed the three and left the room. He didn't take much time to looking the place when he first rushed in, but looking at it now showed it was very trashy, drinks spilled, trash on the ground, bed sheets lying about.

The three left the house and continued down the street, moving up and down until the barricade was clear in sight. Suddenly before the round from a sniper even got close to them, Jastis moved them to the cover they had and then the round clashed against the ground. "Identify yourself!" They heard a loud voice coming from the barricade.

"Sure you should respond?" Questioned Rent low enough that the shooters couldn't hear.

"No," he pulled out his Javelin and aimed down its scope, and within a second shot it directly hitting the enemy sniper in the head killing them instant, "we're going hot!"

Jastis and his squad moved up from their cover and more of the Reapers Children began to flow out. Their armor was different then from other soldiers he had saw recently, it was purple with red stripes, its helmet had two spikes going at the ends, and overall very sharp armor. But it didn't matter; they would die like the sniper did.

Rent spoke, "Fastina! Use your biotics to lift that one!" On her HUD it highlighted the soldier behind cover that neither of them could shoot. She charged up and began to glow all around her arm was brought down and then she jerked it up and the man suddenly flew up and was still in air as purple energy surrounded him.

Both Rent and Jastis blasted at the man killing them before the energy ran out. One of them rushed at Rent with two Omni-blades, he took his Talon and shot directly at them and they fell over. More continued to come and they took them down one by one. Jastis vaulted over his cover and rounds began to drain his shields but they held still and he was able to reach to another enemy and use his claymore on them. He then turned and shot another with the Claymore as it tore through their shields and straight past their armor. The Spartan then turned to another enemy who was on a buildings balcony, he ran over to it and ran against the wall for a moment to give him momentum and he jumped once more and grabbed onto the balcony.

He lifted himself up and landed next to the Reapers Children soldier, the enemy turned with his avenger assault rifle, but Jastis was able to roll out of the way and got behind the enemy and twisted his neck easily breaking it. Getting back into cover, he was now higher than the barricade but not past it, he saw more enemies coming from behind. Taking a grenade he tossed it over the barricade and it exploded in a group of the soldiers. Rent and Fastina hurried to catch up taking out soldiers themselves.

Fastina had to admit, she had never been on something like this before, she had gotten used to the idea of killing, but she never had to do it en masse like she was now. Rent on the other hand from being in the military and doing other things was already used to fighting this many. Jastis got out of cover and got a running start and then ran in the direction of the barricade, he brought his leg up on the balcony walls and that gave him a jumping boost. So much that he was able to grab onto a pipe above and swing himself even further past the barricade.

He brought his body forward as he hit the ground and rolled out even hitting a guy in the face with his leg in the process. Jastis got his balance and began to fire upon those still left behind the barricade. Then there was no one else, he contacted them over the COMs, "Fastina, Rent, are you guys good on that side?"

"Yes," Rent responded, Jastis went over to the barricade, it was quite tall and they would need a boost to get over it. When he was at the top of it, he reached his arm over it and both of his squad mates took that as a cue to grab it. Fastina was first she did similar to what Jastis did to get up on the balcony and Jastis lifted her up with ease, she could almost feel the immense strength from him. He then pulled up Rent.

"Damn," he stated, "never seen anyone do anything like that before. You truly are a Super soldier."

They leaped down the other side of the barricade and continued on their path. The main building they were held up was just across a court yard. It was a stark contrast to other parts of Omega, it was well lit and had tree's growing, its ground was marble and looked like it should belong on a planet like Earth. The squad was alone in the court yard, which made Jastis worry; nothing came up on his VISR.

**Mariika**

From the distance she watched the squad as they passed through the district, she was in awe at the Spartans abilities, and he was exactly what she was hoping he would be. On the catwalk she continued to watch them until she had to exit the catwalk, she almost got hit by stray rounds but was able to dodge them.

She then remembered what she had heard about this place, the Reapers Children. The Asari smiled under her helmet, it was a noble deed already that the Spartan was on. Something that would at least rid Omega of some more bad doers.

After they had passed the barricade she used her biotics to lift herself up and over it. Mariika saw them arrive in the court yard and hadn't passed through it yet so she went into cover. The Spartan stopped moving and his squad mates followed suite. "Someone is here," he stated.

"Of course, the Reaper Children are-" Fastina spoke but was cut off by the Spartan.

"No someone else, ever since we exited Afterlife," he turned and faced the direction of the barricade.

_Shit. Already discovered?_

He moved forward a bit, "Come out of hiding! I know you're there!"

Mariika sighed, "Alright," she stated so the Spartan could hear, she stood up and moved out of her cover, "you found me." Everyone stared at her through their visors. Her arms were raised up to show that she had no weapon in her hands but they all saw the weapons around her.

Jastis aimed his Vindicator at her, "Who are you? Why are you following us?"

"I am Mariika Venist, an Asari Mercenary former Commando. I have been on Omega for the past year trying to help people out. It hasn't been too successful. So when I heard about you being from another dimension and becoming a Spectre to help people, I wanted to help you out. So I followed you."

The former Commando reminded him of how Rent was former Turian Military. He wasn't sure to trust the Asari, she seemed honest, but for all he knew she could be hired from the Blood Pack. "How can I be sure to trust you?" the Spartan asked, "you follow us and claim your good. In a place like this, trusting can be hard."

"Spartan, I am going to be frank; I don't think even if I wanted to, I could even kill you. How about you let me help you take down these Reapers Children? Maybe that will prove something."

Jastis turned to his squad, "thoughts?" he asked them.

Fastina folded her arms, "I can't say, the name Mariika Venist doesn't ring a bell. That doesn't mean she can't be good though. I say we let her help, if she is trouble, we kill her."

Rent nodded his head, "my sentiment exactly Fastina."

"Alright," he turned to the Asari Mercenary, "you may come. You must follow all of my orders."

She bowed, "thank you so much. I am also a biotic like your Quarian friend."

The Spartan liked the sound of that, two biotics could be a big help. "Good, let's go."

**AN: Yay! Finally got this out, wanted to get it out earlier but I failed to. D: Well it's here now. Hope you enjoyed it; first part of the Reapers Children OMEGA Part is done. :D See you next time. **


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Nothing much to say here but… ENJOY!**

**Fort those confused, The Thursday War is the most recent Halo book out. Just released October 2****nd****. It's the book that leads up to Halo 4, I would suggest anyone who is interested in Halo to read it, along with the other books. **

**Mass Effect is owned by EA and Bioware, Halo is owned by Microsoft and 343i. **

**June 9****th****, 2191 – Omega Nebula – Sahrabarik – Omega – Yezen District – 1900 Hours**

With their new found teammate Mariika they continued on into the Reapers Children main base, he found it odd that there had been no one in the court yard, not even a sniper perched up in a window waiting. Jastis made sure there were no traps and continued into the building. They found themselves in the main entrance where there was a desk and a console. The Spartan made sure no one was around and then went to the console, "Rent, think you could hack this?"

Rent had told the Spartan when he first met him that he was a good hacker in case it was ever needed. He sat down at the console and began to work his magic while Jastis moved away and hugged the wall looking down the corridors to make sure no one was going to pop up. Mariika watched the Turian hack, impressed by his abilities, whereas Fastina just looked away almost sadden that a Turian was able to hack better than a Quarian who are supposed to be all about tech. With ease he got in, the security hadn't been tight at all.

"Anything to report?" The Spartan asked as he looked over the shoulder of the Turian.

The Turian leaned back, "There isn't much. Just cam footage of those who have walked through here. Not even live footage which appears to all have been shut down. Any other specific info on the Reapers Children must be on another network further into the facility."

"Copy the data you got and let's move," the Spartan moved to the entrance to the corridor behind the desk, his squad followed. There was no one inside the building; everything looked like it had been abandoned for days. The various rooms they shined their flashlights into even had dust on them.

"I don't understand they were just here attacking us. Where are they?" Fastina questioned.

Finally they turned into another corridor and there was a door at the end, its holographic lock red to indicate it was locked. "I think we found where they're…" Rent spoke as they reached the door, once more the Spartan asked for him to hack. He didn't mind, he found it fun, like it was any puzzle games to which he was quite fond of.

Fastina decided to make small chat with their new squad mate Mariika. She leaned against the wall, "So former Asari Commando? What made you quit?"

The Asari sighed and placed her hands at the back of her helmet and leaned against the wall across from Fastina. "Quit, that's a way of putting it. Thing is about Asari Commando's is that some like me are Mercenaries. I technically could hold the title, but I felt like it had lost its meaning. I believe one who is called an Asari Commando should be someone who actively works in the Asari Military, who fights for peace and others. Not just for money like some do. Thus when I became a mercenary, I decided it would be best to drop the title."

"Finished," Rent said standing up and the door opening, Fastina gloomed over how she didn't get to ask why Mariika became a merc, as they would most likely be in combat now. The Spartan lead the squad through the doors, it lead them up some stairs and then turned once more to their left and entered a larger area. Immediately bullets hit the ground and everyone dropped for cover.

This time there was more than just the Reapers Children but Husks rushing out towards them. Jastis noticed large tube containers all around the room, one of them hissed and opened. From out of it a Husk came and it took no time to turn to them and run. Some enemies set up a turret and bullets rained down at them. "We need to get that turret down!" Jastis spoke over the COMs. Vaulting over his cover he rushed into another desk for cover.

"Spartan, I am going to get close to it," she told him and he acknowledged. Fastina vanished and began to move about while invisible, it wasn't perfect invisibility but no one noticed in the wake of the battle. Mariika tracking her progress aimed with her N7 Valiant and shot down some Husks that neared her. Rent vaulted over his cover and got behind the same desk at Jastis. He switched his ammo to incinerate and shot down two Reapers Children which engulfed in fire. After that he then was able to set up a Sentry Turret between two desks.

Mariika covered Jastis as he moved up closer to the enemies' turret; she used a barrier around Rent's turret as a Reapers Children threw a grenade at it. She also then moved up to a desk just to the left of the turret. Fastina was able to get to the wall right below the turret above. The Quarian took a grenade and threw up above her head and then leapt out of the way. It exploded midair and destroyed the turret and downing two Reapers Children but not killing them.

Jastis took out the Claymore as the turret fell and rushed out of cover, he kicked a Husk and shot it, he then turned and ran over to the cover where a Reapers Children was and vaulted over it kicking the Reapers Children in the head killing them from its strength. Rent followed the Spartan and took out the last Husk in the room. Mariika then finished off the last two Reapers Children that the grenade hadn't taken out.

Everything went silent, "let's look around before moving on." First thing he did was walk over to one of the large tube containers.

"So this is what they're making the Husks by? Putting people in here?" He asked the group as they looked around.

Rent nodded his head without looking at the Spartan with his eye still on the console, "Yes, they appear to be Cerberus made. I got more data here; it says that they were making Husks with the people here."

"Cerberus?" That caught Fastina's attention, "Anything on how they got them?"

"No, can't get a source but there are without a doubt Cerberus made. Must be from the colony Horizon where there was that whole 'Sanctuary' fiasco. I wonder how they got them out… I assume the Alliance came in and took control. Although we shouldn't count out the idea of Cerberus having more facilities they stole from."

Mariika folded her arms and leaned them on the consoles head, "But why? Aren't Husks mindless or under control by a Reaper? Wouldn't they attack the Reapers Children as well?"

"Can't say, information as to specific like that aren't on here. I have to get them credit; they aren't stupid enough to place all of their important information on one network." Rent copied the data and they continued on through the building.

"Only one more floor," Fastina stated as they moved up another set of stairs. They reached the top floor and opened the door to only see one person standing there.

They were wearing a white lab coat and had a white hood; they stood in front another tube container. Everyone aimed their guns at the person, "Put your hands up!" Jastis stated as they moved closer.

The person looked over at them, they were Human wearing a red visor over their eyes but their hair covered most of it. "Ah," he spoke his voice strangely mechanical, "so you have arrived. I assume everyone else is dead then?"

Jastis nodded, "And you will be if you don't surrender and came in for questioning."

Suddenly there was an outburst in laughter from the man; his movements were off like they were inhuman. "Don't think that's going to happen, Jastis."

The Spartan tensed as his name was used, the man suddenly brought down his visor revealing glowing blue eyes with a three blue dots and black lines connecting them and then the black iris in the center. Before they could react the man pulled a pistol out on himself and pulled the trigger killing them.

"Those eyes…" Mariika mumbled to herself and each of them put their weapons on their back. Jastis went over to the body and turned his over, and checked the lab coats pockets and came up with nothing. Rent went over to the console and began to work, the Spartan simply shook his head at the body and stood up and went over to the container. There was a person inside, not yet a husk.

"Rent, get this container open if you can," and on command the container hissed and opened up. The person inside eyes were closed, Jastis reached over and slowly brought them out of the container, just then the man inside opened his eyes.

"Thank you…" they spoke.

Jastis smiled; at least he was able to save this person. "Your welcome-"

Suddenly he felt a large pain in his left abdomen, he looked down and the man stabbed him through the armor with his Omni-blade. Jastis had let down his guard, no other Spartan would have. He pushed the person out of the way and took out his Claymore and blasted them as the person pulled out a pistol.

Even for a Spartan, getting stabbed in the abdomen wasn't good. The armor would help, but he needed medical attention. Fastina and Mariika ran over to him and helped him stay awake but quickly his eyes began to close until they faded.

_I failed… As a Spartan I failed…_

**June 10****th****, 2191 – Omega Nebula – Sahrabarik – Omega – SSV Earth – Med Bay - 0600 Hours**

Jastis eye's opened abruptly, immediately he looked around without moving his head. "You're awake," he heard a voice and turned his head to see Doctor Vinisa, a young Asari, standing there.

He began to move his torso up, he was in his [GEN2] under suit, and the spot where he had been stabbed was already being worked on by the Nanobots. "I am amazed, how fast your body reacted to the cut. I did my work but your body let's face it, not like the normal human. I see it was like you said, augmented. I took the liberty of not recording any of the specifics of the augments, just what I did to patch you up. I will send you the report."

Jastis looked around but didn't see his armor, "Thank you. Where is my armor?" he inquired.

"In your Cabin, we had to really lift it to get it out of here. Without it was the only way I could work."

"What happened to Fastina, Mariika, and Rent?"

Vinisa walked over to her desk and took a data pad and handed it to him, "They're alright. Had to call in and get you some help. Even with biotics they needed someone strong. Luckily Aria was kind enough to lend a Krogan. Doubt she would do that for many considering her. That data pad has all of the specifics."

Jastis wasn't sure he liked the idea of being carried but it had happened, no point in brooding over it. "I will head to my Cabin now."

"Please take care of yourself, even if you're augmented and can take more hits than anyone, you still were stabbed quite deeply and bled a lot. I suggest taking things slowly for the next few days."

_Next few days…_

He got up and off and moved towards the door, Vinisa watched him to make sure nothing happened. Jastis quickly got the elevator avoiding anyone. He rode it up to his Cabin and exited. When he got into his room he spotted the armor, like he thought the Nanobots began their work. He moved slowly to his chair at his desk and sat down. There he sat for a while in silence his head placed on his hands.

Jastis simply couldn't believe he let that person stab him, he should have expected that as much. The man hadn't been turned into a husk, there had to have been a reason and he just didn't think of it. Any other Spartan wouldn't have picked up the person and waited to see what they did.

Already on his first mission as Spectre and he was the only one who was heavily injured. Now he was going to be out for a few days. A few days the Reapers Children could organize from their losses. He heard a beep on his laptop he checked it. Rent was hailing him over a chat. It was audio only so he accepted it. "Jastis, I have sent you all of the data from the mission," he started, "I also had EDI take a look at it while you were in the med bay. Her report is in there as well."

"Thank you," Jastis stated and ended the chat.

His mind was at odds with each other like it had been like he had been at the Citadel becoming a Spectre. One side was fighting over that he should get his act together, and the other was stating how it was his entire fault and he wasn't fit for Spartan or even Spectre. All of his stupid behavior from after the war rushed up to him, he wanted to be lazy. That simple act of being sent back to the Med Bay from this mission was getting to him.

He heard a knock on his cabin door and then a voice, "Captain, it's I, Elizabeth, may I enter?"

_I have the data to look over, but… _

Jastis turned his chair and walked over to the door and it slid opened, revealing the Communications Specialist. "Hello," he turned away from her and walked down the steps near his bed, Elizabeth entered and followed. The Spartan then went over to the couches near his bed and sat down, Elizabeth did so but on the other part of the Couch.

"I heard you seemed down, Vinisa said your tone and even how you walked seemed that of a lesser man as she described it. Like someone who had just been defeated."

Jastis looked down, "That's a nice way of putting it."

Elizabeth just looked at the Spartan, "Do you want to talk about it?"

It was unlike Spartans to go around revealing their feelings to another, but he decided to do it, "Sure, I feel lost."

"Well you're from another dimension…"

The man shook his head, "No, not that part. See us Spartans; we're supposed to be the best of the best. Trained since very young to become the best possible soldiers. Yet after the war ended in my dimension, I changed. I took things that I should be honored with and treated them like they were insults. When I was stabbed back on Omega, it was like the straw that broke the camel's back. It showed that I was unfit, like the years I was a Spartan had ended. I lost."

"It was a mistake-" She told him but he cut her off.

"No, it wasn't a mistake, it was a failure. I was stabbed because I let myself, because I didn't think it through."

The room went silent, "Everyone makes mistakes, and even someone like you must know that. You're still human. So you were stabbed it's not the end. You made a great recovery in half the time of normal people and you should be proud that your team succeeded in the mission."

Jastis didn't respond for a bit, he just let it sink in. "I…" He tried to speak but this time Elizabeth cut him off.

"Rent, Fastina and even that new girl Mariika, claimed that you did great. Possibly the best they have ever seen, you got them through a very smooth mission. So stop pouting and stand back tall," she stood up as if to show it, "you claim you're a Spartan but even great men have times of failure. Even if you changed after your war, you can try to reclaim that greatness you once had, here with all of us. So come on stand up."

It was like time froze for Jastis, he began to recall all of his missions, and even back to training on Reach with Mendez and all of the other kids. Spartans were the weapon of the UNSC, Earth, and all of her colonies, but most importantly a protector. He may have taken all of it for granted after the war, but he couldn't anymore. The Spartan stood up and towered Elizabeth.

"Thank you, your right. I can redeem myself."

Elizabeth smiled, "Your welcome."

**SAME TIME – UNKNOWN LOCATION **

A woman sat with her legs up, continued to read her book, not a holo novel, a real physical novel. Only light in the room shined down on the pages. It was silent, the only sound coming from her flipping the pages.

Light rushed in when a door behind her slid opened and a figure stepped in and it closed behind her. She closed the book and turned her chair to face to the newcomer. Despite the darkness she could see him clear as day, "Welcome Driean, what is the occasion?" She replied in a very seductive voice.

The man took his arm and placed his fist over his heart and bowed, "Our base in Omega, it has been taken over, no one survived, not even Commander Ryowel."

"A shame, did the base's data get out?"

"Hard to say, Aria's men have control of it now."

"Are you telling me that the bitch Aria T'Loak batch of men were able to take down our base?"

Driean shook his head, "No, it wasn't Aria who took out the base. That new Spectre, Spartan Jastis, was the one based on Ryowel's last report he sent out just before he died."

"Jastis… Have that blasted AI try to get some information about him. I want him dead. If a Spectre attacked that base, then he must be after us."

"I shall. All Hail the Reapers!" He stated and left the room. Leaving her all alone, she picked up her book again and continued to read.

"…Yes, all Hail the Reapers…"

**June 10****th****, 2191 – Omega Nebula – Sahrabarik – Omega – SSV Earth - 1000 Hours**

"Spartan," Jastis heard Jokers voice over the intercoms in his Cabin as he finished looking over the data, "The report is out, want to contact the Council?"

"Mind as well," he got out of his chair; he was now in his Captain's uniform he had gotten. He stepped into the small corridor and then into the elevator to which then he heard from EDI.

"Jastis, a word to the wise, don't cut the communication between you and the Council. It would be smart and not to give any satisfaction to Joker."

To which he heard Joker respond, "Hey! That was funny. Shepard and I always got a kick out of it."

"Joker, cutting the council may have seemed funny but doesn't help with them thinking good of the Spectre."

"Jastis, just remember that the option is there."

"Enough Joker, Spectre, good luck as the Council can be a pain in the-" and suddenly EDI's voice cut off but he could fill in the blanks. She reminded him of the "Smart" AI's back home. He made his way to the Coms room, where the table was already down and it was ready. Stepping onto the platform he saw the council.

"Spectre," Tevos began.

"Council," Jastis responded.

They quickly began, "We have read the report, needless to say it's quite disturbing, the use of Cerberus technology to create Husks. Truly these people are mad. Are you sure this is correct?"

"Rent Varkuun is a great Hacker, he was sure it was Cerberus tech. I don't doubt him."

"Neither do we, we see that this is a threat that is much larger then we imagined," this time Bradley spoke, "if they have their hands on this tech and it's working, then we have a national crisis on our hand. What else must they have?"

Before Jastis could get a word in Sparatus spoke, "Is it wise to have this lone Spectre on this mission? If it is such as the report claims we should have more on this."

"Sir, I can do this. I know I am new here, but you must trust me, I am still looking over all of the data but I think it is becoming clear were we must head next."

Tevos disagreed with Sparatus, "We mustn't doubt his abilities, for now we will keep this mission on just you."

"I doubt this Spartan's abilities, he was stabbed during this mission, a Spectre on their first mission had to be evac to the Med Bay," Sparatus spoke again in a harsher tone this time.

_I have a feeling I am not going to like you._

The Spartan folded his arms, "Sparatus, I am a soldier, best of the best, I made a mistake and I will admit that. But don't you doubt my abilities; I will catch the leader of the Reapers Children. I don't need someone telling me that I am not fit for a job."

Suddenly the connection to the council cut off and then he heard Joker over the intercom. "Heh… Funny as always."

Jastis smirked, it was a bit un Spartan to cut off the connection to a superior but there was something he had to admit that felt good about doing it, specifically to them. EDI simply sighed on the chat. He turned and left the com room.

Time to go and figure out where to go next.

**AN: Not much to say again, although I must ask:**

**Do you feel the story is moving too fast or slow? **

**Please Review and Critique. :D **


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Wow… Wow… This took so much longer to get out then I wanted to. Sorry to everyone who has been waiting, I hope you enjoy it!**

**Halo 4 out! So much fun!**

**Also I hope to get more chapters out; I do feel really bad for making this take soooooooooooooooooooooo long. **

**Disclaimer: Halo is owned by 343i and Microsoft, Mass Effect by Bioware and EA.**

**Enjoy!**

**June 10th, 2191 – Omega Nebula – Sahrabarik – Omega – SSV Earth - 1000 Hours**

Jastis finished looking over all of the data; he had to admit there wasn't too much to go on. Although a name did keep coming up, Ember, but no meaning came up to it. Possibly a code name or something. "EDI," he spoke and she immediately responded to him.

"Yes Spectre."

"Can you please cross reference the name Ember? In the data I keep seeing the name appear but can't seem to find anything about it."

"I am on it," she replied and went away. After that he stood up from his chair and wondered what to do. He needed a suggestion as nothing came to his mind but to work out and things to get in shape, even a Spartan needed to do. Although he felt compelled to ask Elizabeth once again to see what she would say.

Once again he took the elevator down to the CIC but oddly enough he didn't see Elizabeth at her usual post. One of the other crewmates noticed the lone Spartan and walked over to him who seemed to still be a bit afraid of the hulking man, "If you're looking for Elizabeth, she is in the lounge."

Jastis nodded, "Thank you." The crew member saluted and went back to their post, and he turned to the direction of the lounge and headed there. He entered, it was a nice room, had its own bar, tables and chairs and a nice relaxing feel to it. This is where they went when off-duty. Two were playing cards, others just chatting while drinking, and he saw Elizabeth at the bar chatting with an older man who appeared to be a bar tender. Normally he would consider this a bit much for a crew to have but they weren't in a 'true' military at the moment and everyone needed some time to relax. For Spartans to be given time to relax was almost unheard of but in this dimension he was given time to relax between each mission which had its ups and downs he admitted.

He could feel the stares of the crew members but they soon turned back to their focus. Jastis stood next to Elizabeth who then noticed him, the bar tender just nodded and turned around and began to clean off various dishes and such. "Captain, didn't expect to see you here," she stated bluntly as she placed her drink on the bar.

"I came get some suggestions," he responded.

Elizabeth raised an eye brow, "What kind of suggestions?"

The Spartan shrugged, "I can't say exactly. Currently I am having EDI cross-reference a name, and so for the moment I have nothing much I can do."

"Hm… Have you talked to everyone? Your squad mates and even your Executive Officer?"

"Briefly."

It took her a bit of a reach but she patted his shoulder and then turned to her drink, "Then there you go. Talk to them and get to know them better."

Jastis nodded, "Thank you."

She just smiled, and he turned and left the lounge to find his squad mates, but being in the CIC already, he decided it would be best to see his XO. The XO stood out from the other crew with his more formal uniform. He was an older man, dark wrinkly skin, but with strong eyes that showed he still had much life in him. Evan Kavin. Jastis saluted to him and Evan did such back, "At ease."

Evan's relaxed, "Good to see you Captain, the wound doing alright?"

"I am a Spartan, it will be fine. How's everything going with the ship and crew?"

A smile went over the XO's face, "All is good, despite the cross-race ship everyone is working at a 100%."

"Good to hear."

There was a moment break, "Anything else you need?"

"Not exactly, I just came here to chat. Learn more about you."

"Huh, you didn't exactly strike me as a chatty type, but alright. What do you want to know?"

Jastis thought about it for a moment, "What's your service record like?"

"I previous served as the XO on the SSV _Guardian,_ during the course of the Reaper War and even to the earlier days just after Shanxi. I have always served as XO proudly. Truthfully I have been given the chance to helm my own ship, but there is something about being the XO, I don't find myself to be the most courageous or even most unique individual but I feel I am a great asset to Captains who are. Truth be told, when I was given this chance to be the XO on the _Earth_, helmed by a newly Spectre Super Soldier from another Dimension, I just couldn't pass it up. I am old now but this seemed like it would be an exciting change of pace from what I have been doing since the war ended."

It was strange for him but he found himself actually smiling for once, "XO Kavin, I will say it is an honor to be your Captain, I hope I can live up to your expectations."

The smile was contagious and so the XO smiled, "Thank you. Anything you can tell me about yourself?"

Like before, he couldn't tell them everything, protocol and such, but he could give him some overviews, "Well like you I am a veteran, specifically of a 27 year war. Been around military my entire life and was selected to be part of the Spartan program which augments soldiers. Nothing much else to say to be honest."

To be fair, it wasn't a complete lie, he _was _selected to be part of the Spartan program and basically been around the military for his entire life, just not as he was implying. Evan cocked his eyebrow, "27 year war? You hardly look that old."

"I am 45 years old; I don't look it due to the augmentations and all of the time I spent in Cryosleep in-between missions."

"Crazy..." Kavin spoke softly, "I best get back to work, nice talking with you."

"You as well," Jastis responded and the XO went back to his work. In his mind he checked the XO off his list and decided that Rent was next. Going to the elevator he headed down to the crew deck, once there he saluted to some crew members walking by and stepped into a room to his left.

The room was plain, with very little lighting, no windows to speak of. Rent was simply at his desk on his laptop, he turned his chair and stood up when he noticed Jastis, "Spectre, good to you up from that wound, I assume as much that you would healed soon. Just a guess on the whole augments part."

"You were right to assume such. I came down here to chat. Get to know you better."

He wasn't good with telling Turian emotions, but he got the feeling that he was giving him the same confused look that Evan had given him, not expecting him to come down and chat. "What do you want to know? Last time we chatted I gave you a brief overview."

"How about your military experience? Last time you didn't speak much of it or even why you left."

Rent sighed, "I was a good soldier, damn fine one if I may say so. I worked well with my squad and we got the job done. But things hit a snag, even before the Reaper War with my squad. During Saren's escapade, my squad got captured. It didn't end well; we were tortured and tested upon. Only I and another Turian, Axural, got out alive, the rest perished. As far as I k now Axural is still in the military now, high rank and all. Anyway continuing on, after that, things changed for me. It's hard to explain it but I started to see things that bothered me that I never noticed about the military, how soft it was, not so much in it' style but how we go about things. Even before the Reaper War I left. I didn't become a mercenary like Mariika, tried to join C-Sec, but left. After that I had been wondering, lucky for me, when Cerberus attacked the Citadel, I happened to be in the right place at the right time, saved some high up people and I worked for them for a while. Now I am here."

Jastis simply stared at the Turian as he spoke but after a brief silence Rent spoke again, "Does that suffice?"

The Spartan nodded, "It does. Anything you wish to know about me?" He determined that since he told a bit about himself to Evan that he should do the same thing with Rent. The Turian sat down.

"Only thing I could ask is… What's your dimension like? I know that's not a specific question about _you_, but it shall suffice."

In his mind he accepted the question, he could tell the Turian some basic details, nothing too specific but at least to give him a good idea that would be sufficient. "My dimension is very hectic, war after war… See unlike this dimension, there was no peaceful alien council that Humanity met with. Instead like Humanity's first encounter with the Turians that ended in a truce after a short bit, Humanity in my dimension met an alien conglomerate that was then bent on our destruction. That lasted 27 long years… If you want me to I could send you an outline of the war, it can give you a much better idea of it then I could in just a summary."

"That would be nice; I will admit I don't have much else to do between missions so that would be a good distraction. Thank you."

"It's no problem," he responded. Once back in his armor, he would compile the data and make sure to omit anything classified, "It has been good speaking with you Rent."

The Turian smirked, at least Jastis believe he did, "Good speaking with you too," as he turned his chair around to face the desk and went back to what he was doing before Jastis arrived. After that the Spartan left and headed down to Fastina's room.

Like Rent's it was plain but it had a large window of Space in her room that Rent didn't have, it was also illuminated much more and there was a bit of stuff out on the desks but Fastina herself was not at her desk. In fact she wasn't in the room at all; he began to turn when from behind he heard her voice.

"Jastis," she spoke, he wasn't sure he was happy that she was using his first name. He let Elizabeth off the hook with it but still it felt weird to be called it despite having been so a lot since he arrived. He turned and faced the Quarian looking down at her, "I didn't think you would come to my room, let alone be up and around."

"We Spartans are very durable; I am already in good shape. I came down here to chat."

"Oh," she spoke the single word, "let us sit down in my room then." She walked past the hulking man and stepped into her room. There was a single table and two chairs in her room that she had set up since they came back. He could tell that she was still nervous around him, and he still wasn't a hundred percent sure on the idea of her staying, but Marcus said accepted her so he better not pre-judge her. They sat down across from each other.

Jastis went straight to work, "I would like to get to know you. I am doing the same for the rest of the crew at the moment. Just tell me basic stuff like where you're from and relax."

She seemed stiff, true they had been on the same mission together but neither had just sat down and chatted so the situation was a bit awkward for her. But once he said relax she actually did, and she no longer looked stiff. "Alright, well as you know I am a Quarian and that we're supposed to be very good with technology."

He began to wonder where this was going; with Rent he never made his species be a part of his own introduction. She continued, "As for me though, I am not. Sure I can shoot a gun and use my Omni-tool but aside from that I know very little of the working of things. Back home I was constantly yelled at for not being up to the standards they had placed on us and my siblings. Although if there was one thing I had above them was the fact that I was one of the few biotic Quarian's around. See my mother, when I was in the womb, had an accident with some Eezo and so when I was born I had biotics. It didn't matter though; they didn't care much for it and saw it as just a distraction. After many years I just got sick of it and just left."

Jastis just looked at her; he could tell despite Fastina's visor that she wasn't telling the truth. Something about how she spoke just seemed off but he wasn't going to budge into personal matters, he was their Captain, not their therapist. "How about after that?" he questioned.

"Since then I have been on the move, just working for whatever job I could get and the whole _Shadow Broker_ thing you know of. Which I probably should get to sending that report, if you wouldn't mind."

It was similar to Rent, minus the Shadow Broker, both had left. From what he saw of Mariika, he was expecting a similar situation. A ship of outcasts and their Captain from a strict Military background since age six, _fun_. Jastis simply nodded, and stood up, as she did. Fastina went to her desk and Jastis walked out. Like a check list he crossed out Fastina off the list of people to talk to, next was Mariika and then he decided he would visit Joker afterward.

Standing there in the hallway of the _Earth_, he then realized he actually didn't know where Mariika was. Since it hadn't been too long ago had she gotten her own room like Fastina and Rent? Just on a whim he decided to go to the Kitchen where he saw various people working and others sitting down and chatting while eating. Most of them looked at him and saluted and then went back, he did the same thing back to them. That's when he luckily saw Mariika who was leaning against a wall with her Omni-tool. He walked up to the Asari who no longer had her helmet on, she like every other Asari he had seen was blue, but she had a large white line over her eyes which made her almost look tribal.

He still didn't know what to think of the single-gendered race, the only one whom he had any real experience with was with Varina back on the _Colorado_ and that was just with chatting. So far they seemed to be the most unique race he had come across so far with their melding ability, not so much their looks but just that part. She didn't seem to take notice of him walking up to her as she just continued to work with her Omni-tool but without lifting her head she spoke, "Spartan, good to see you. I was hoping we could talk."

"You're in luck; I came to talk to you to. So what is on your mind?"

The Asari stopped working on her Omni-tool, "As you know we didn't have much chance to speak during the mission. But as you do know I had been following you and your story since you came to the Citadel. As you also know I had been on Omega for a while trying to fix up the place like the famous Archangel. Sadly it has been a failure, and now all I can ask is one request."

"That is?"

"Can I join your crew? I know you let me on the mission but that was in the heat of the moment. You are not an average Human and your situation even more so. I don't think I can save Omega, but maybe alongside you I can actually do some good and make the galaxy a more peaceful place to live in."

She seemed sincere, and her beliefs were in the right place, "Mariika, welcome to the crew." The Spartan told the Asari who smiled in joy.

"Thank you, I won't let you down."

"Find Elizabeth, she should show you to your room, it may be a bit before we get to our next mission."

Mariika nodded and left the Kitchen leaving the Spartan, now it was time to talk to the Veteran Pilot. He moved to the CIC and walked up to the cock pit area where Joker still was. He heard the Spartan coming and turned his chair, he was able to leave the console for a moment, "Hey, your back up. That's good, Hero always gets back."

He just shook his head at the Hero comment, "I came up here to see how things are going, to get to know you better."

Like on cue, Joker responded, "Well I grew up on Arcturus Station, when I was old enough I enlisted in the Navy, despite my health I was able to surpass all of my instructors and become the best pilot there is. After that as you know I served with Commander Shepard on the Normandy, I was with him up till the end of the Reaper war, now he is retired but I still continue on. Now I got your ship to worry about."

That was shorter than the others, but it sufficed. "With all of the upgrades this ship has over the Normandy, everything is going great. Happy that they let me serve on this, well they should be honored I accepted."

It was a bit of arrogance but considering his records, he let it slide, "What do you think of the crew so far?"

"The crew has been good, it's interesting to see all of the races on this ship aside from a few if I may add, working together. If you are referring to your squad, they're an interesting bunch. I haven't talked to that new one Mariika yet, but Rent seems like he is one of the few Turians without the stick up their ass, and Fastina seems good but a little of the shy side of things despite her dealings."

Jastis nodded, "Thank you for your input." Just then EDI appeared with news he hoped.

"Spectre, I have found a match for the name Ember. It's a reference to a black market dealer on Ilium Wasn't easy to find, even for an AI such as myself."

Joker smirked, "I assume you probably had to hack around to get that."

"Yes," she simply stated back.

"To Illium then," Jastis spoke and Joker turned his chair around to go back to work but then spoke again.

"Ah Illium, just as dangerous as Omega, instead of being shot in the street you will be taken and never seen again by corporations. Should be fun."

**AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. So far I have been sort of following ME2 in the sense of going to Omega and then going to Illium but after this I plan to have some original creation planets.**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Sorry for the delay! Another chapter! **

** DevineWhisper16, possibly much later on. Still lots to be told before anything like that.**

**Also I just noticed something… For some reason I had suddenly began saying it was July when really it should be June. All chapters should be corrected by the time this gets up. **

**Another thing, with the Omega DLC, I will need to watch it, I don't know if I plan on getting it. If it makes any major changes, I will go back and rewrite.**

**Enjoy!**

**June 11****th****, 2556 – Unknown Location – UNSC Infinity – 1000 Hours**

For Marsiani there wasn't much to do, they were going to contact HIGHCOM and see what she was to do. Her original designation was to watch over and aid Spartan-015, but now he was missing or dead. A waste for a Four-Gen Smart AI such as herself to sit around and do nothing, it was also not good for her systems and doing nothing was a Smart AI's worst nightmare and could help lead to Rampancy.

It was then that Roland, the ships AI appeared, "HIGHCOM has a new assignment for you. A Spartan-IV squad, Fireteam Alexander that will be assigned to the Infinity starting next month when we head back to Earth."

The AI sighed, they were very much human in many ways, and Smart-AI's nearly blurred the lines when it came to being able to project emotions. Some AI's like BB or Black Box felt no need to have a human form but most AI's didn't feel this way, as she and Roland both had human appearances. His being that of Roland Beamont, a British fighter and test pilot for the Royal Air Force during and after World War II. "Spartan-IV's…"

"Problem? You're rather lucky; I always preferred to run Ops than the ship."

The AI shook her head, "No problem, not like I have much of a choice. Just not much of a fan of the IV's, I find them… Less interesting compared to the II's and III's. Too lively, too... _normal_."

"Would have to disagree with you there missy, then again I have spent more time with the fours and not too much time with the II's and III's that have passed by."

Again the AI sighed; she already missed Jastis, the Spartan-II whom she had spent the most time with. She still was dismal that they weren't going to look for him, a Spartan-II, one of the few remaining. It was an outrage if she was honest, but she was an AI, built by the UNSC, for the UNSC, to serve the UNSC, and she had no influence to change this. Maybe some AI's, but not her.

"I guess they will do…"

Roland turned away from her, "Captain is calling, good day Marsiani."

**June 11****th****, 2191 – Crescent Nebula – Tasale System – Illium – 1200 Hours**

They got their rest and arrived at Illium the next day. Jastis had read up on the planet the night before, he knew to try and watch out for scammers and the endless other dangers that lurked on Illium, Joker had been right from the reports and information he gathered it was just as dangerous as Omega. His team was ready; having four members would prove useful as they could move in twos if they needed to. He had briefed the squad beforehand, they were to move in and find this Ember fellow. They were going to need to get dirty and move into the darkest sectors of Illium to find them.

"Is everyone ready?" He asked once more before they ventured into the city.

Each of them nodded, and they walked through the decontamination room and then they were off. Unlike on Omega they couldn't be as itchy on the trigger, and had to move elegantly through the masses but still they were cautious. A waypoint on their HUDs formed and they began to follow it leading them to the last known location of the black market dealer. It came to no surprise to the group all of the suspicious looks they got.

One thing Jastis noticed was the large amount of Asari, he remembers the information of Illium was an Asari founded colony but not considered an Asari colony. It had been damaged during the Reaper war and it was still being repaired but it was quickly being worked on. He had to admit, while he didn't expect anyone like Aria, he almost had thought there was going to be some big wig who noticed the _Earth_ arriving and decided they needed to meet with them. Instead it was a simple procedure, land in with clearance and go.

As they moved into the lower parts of Illium the lights began to get dimmer and dimmer and the people shadier and more diverse cast of characters. "Never been here before," spoke Fastina to break the silence.

"I have on occasion in the past," Mariika told the young Quarian, "it's has its ups and downs if you are willing to look past the illegal dealings."

Rent chuckled out a small laugh, "without the illegal dealings what else is there in Illium?"

"Well if you're a celebrity there is much, but I guess for the standard person there is probably the prospect of enticing goods and resorts."

The Turian looked at the Asari, "guess there is more than I thought. To be honest it was an ignorant comment."

Mariika shook her head, "no, to be honest I am not surprised; Illium is quite the illegal breeding ground of criminals. Mainly because of the more lax laws."

Fastina didn't want to admit it but considering her track record she fit in with Illium. She looked up at Jastis as they continued he didn't speak to the group or even look at them while they spoke. With his visit yesterday she had almost hoped he was going to be more open compared to the times she has been with him but he was still silent and let them talk. They stepped into an elevator and were going to be waiting a while; this dimension he noticed was notorious for its slow elevators.

Suddenly a COM channel opened up and a voice began to speak through his helmet but only to him, the others stayed ignorant. _"Spectre Jastis, I see you and your posy have arrived on Illium." _He couldn't tell the gender of the speaker as the voice was being modified, immediately he thought of two possibilities, it being a Reaper Children pawn or being Ember.

"_I also see you're coming after me. I can assure you that you won't catch me. Under one condition though you can."_

This wasn't good; this seemed off, something was wrong and there was no reason to trust the voice that he assumed now to be Ember. _"You can meet with me if you're willing to give me the schematics for that armor of yours."_

"Ember… If you think I will fold just like that, you have underestimated me," he spoke back to the voice while his squad stayed unaware of the conversation.

"… _Your funeral I guess. Good bye Spectre."_

The elevator across from them caught up and that's when he saw some goons with their guns aimed at them. He was happy when his squad reacted immediately to them and shot at them killing them before they could get a single shot off. Jastis didn't even have to do anything. That impressed the Spartan. "Haven't even gotten there yet and they already are on to us," Rent spoke to the group.

"Then we should be extra cautious. Everyone keeps your weapons ready," Jastis replied. Each of them nodded, getting more ready than they were before. He didn't understand how they knew they were coming, while they were unique on Illium, they were going in the general direction of the scum of Illium, so how where they able to pick them out of everyone. And again how they were able to access the COM channel.

There were many possibilities, but they had to stay focus and find Ember. Making sure the COMs to Ember were silenced, he then told the group. "Just before the attack, I was contacted by Ember; he wanted to get my schematics for my suit. I refused and thus he attacked, but the fact that they were able to strike that fast, they must have known from the start that we were coming."

"He wanted your suit's schematics or we die?" Mariika asked.

Jastis shook his head, "No, he wanted the schematics and he would let us meet with him. I couldn't give him the armor schematics; it would be horrible for this dimension for the terrorist groups to get ahold of his armor. Your armor I have studied is very good, but this armor would give a cutting edge over the Alliance and groups. I can't risk something like that."

Rent agreed, "Understandable. Also considering we have no idea if we would have met with him anyway. More so since they knew we were coming, he could be off world for all we know by now."

"Yeah, but let's continue on. We don't want to let him get the chance if he hasn't left yet," Fastina finished.

Jastis nodded, and the elevator stopped at that moment and they stepped out. They were on a much lower level, close enough to see the ground below and the lights from above lit the skies but those lights didn't touch down here, no instead a mixes of reds and blues from some neon lights and fires in barrels, it was evident that this was the place neglected by the repair companies, probably didn't care much for the poor. Although Illium it was stated in the Codex fought hard against the Reapers who apparently didn't expect that much resistance from the planet. So a large chunk of the planet was left unscathed but still some of the lower parts were hit from the Reaper forces that did land.

They continued to follow the path that EDI designated for them, and as they moved it was clear this was merc and black market territory with various dealings going around, naturally they got cautious as the squad moved through, hands on their weapons. Soon enough they expected to meet resistance. Once more they moved down a set of stairs until they reached the level where Ember was supposedly. On his HUD various tangos were registered and it was clear these were Ember's thugs as they moved at them with guns raised. Their armor is similar to the Blue Suns, but was a red-orange with a flame for their logo.

The Spartan rushed ahead of the group with his speed unmatched and moved to a flanking position to the left of the enemy squad. Rent, Fastina, and Mariika moved up to cover as more enemies ran into the corridor. Even before the three would even lean out to shoot, the goons began to put suppressive fire down on them making it harder for them to react. With the flanking position, the Spartan would provide distraction while the three shot down the goons. Taking his Vindicator he aimed down at one of the thugs who hadn't seen him and blasted at them, to the enemies it went in slow motion as they turned their heads to see their fallen comrade. As the suppress fire went off, the three shot at the enemy squads, Fastina used her biotics to send some flying into the air and unable to move.

Making it easy kills for the Spectre squad, once they were downed, they moved on in the direction they had come as they entered the area EDI marked, but was now unknown territory. Opening a door they ducked into cover as a turret rained down on them, just like in the previous mission and just like the Reapers Children, these guys were armed to the teeth. "Fastina, use your active cameo to get around to that turret, we will keep its attention and make sure you're not spotted," he commanded the Quarian.

No word was spoken, she simply went invisible and made her move to the sides of the room, Jastis for the brief moment that the turret stopped took a shot at an enemy who could have spotted Fastina, and they fell over as their shields flared. She silently thanked him for that and continued on. If all turned out well, it should end the same way she destroyed the last turret on Omega, a boom and some dead soldiers. However above a biotic goon came out of hiding and lifted up Fastina into the air, she was unable to use her biotics back, Mariika though quickly to ahold of the situation and lifted up the enemy biotic and crushed him with her powers, Fastina landed on the ground without a hit, but was now spotted and being targeted.

Rent placed out his sentry turret and moved up; he was able to then quickly land a hit on the head of an enemy who jumped down and landed next to Fastina who was occupied by another soldier ahead. Jastis followed him ahead, the turret bullets did a number on his shields, and they began to flare out, but he was able to get next to Fastina and out of the turrets range. They pulled off the turret and began to move it to get a better angle on the squad but the Spartan didn't allow this, while they had the chance, he leapt up onto the top where the turret was. He ran across the cat walk with and shot at them as he strafed.

Once the turret fell and so did its soldiers, the rest fell back into another room. Lots of crates were littered around the next corridor. Into the next corridor the squad pursued. They stepped in and the lights went dark, but no shots followed, it was quiet. Jastis' helmets lights went on and he was able to see ahead. Still no one was seen. "A trap?" Rent put out.

"Hard to say," Jastis responded. From the darkness they heard various screams in the distance. They followed down the corridor to the end of the hallway. The next room opened up, the lights were dim and most of the room to dark to see, but it was enough to see the bodies of Ember's goons littering the ground.

"What happened? They seemed in order just a moment ago, now they're dead," Mariika thought aloud.

It was clear they had been killed by some blade. Omni, most likely, just as he had been stabbed before. "Another rival black marketer?" Questioned Rent.

"Possibly, or Reapers Children is also a possibility. Let's keep moving, I detect no one in here, but everyone keep frosty, never know if they can somehow avoid our radars," Jastis announced as he moved through the room, stepping over bodies.

**AN: Hey sorry for ending short, I just wanted to get something out there, next chapter the mission will maybe finish and it will go back on track of being at least 3,500 words or around there. Needed this out just so people know that the Fic isn't dead, just updating slower.**

**It's been kind of hard lately, I have been having writers block and more in the mood for fantasy lately, which is why I now have a second story on Fiction Press called Durisall: Book One – The Mechanicals. An original story, it will update alongside this, but will probably outlast it in time. (Much more you can do in an Original story than a Fic, not that this will be short.)**

**Also I may possibly, be changing the title of the story since I feel like eventually it will be outdated if I do decide to introduce other Spartans or even just other Halo-verse characters. Not much A Spartan Alone, if there is more. But for now the title will stay.**

**I will ask, what is your opinion? Would you mind a title change? And if I do change it would it matter at all? **

**Thanks again for reading. :) **


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Another chapter! Enjoy! Since it took so long to get this one out, it's extra-long. :D Yeah I will admit, I am sorry. Currently I have had a pretty bad amount of writers block. Which sucks because I have a lot of really good ideas but getting to them is painful, however going straight to them is bad. I wish for them to happen at the right moment and naturally and not seem forced and out of place in the story and not to ruin it's pacing. **

**On another note, I will hopefully get more chapters soon after this and return to the usually 3k to 4k word which seems to have worked well before and also for many other Fan fictions of this same genre (HaloxME.) So I just hope I don't hit writers block again. **

**Which I think the best way to avoid that is start making the story a bit more original, not meaning no more pre-made characters like Shepard, Hackett, and etc, but instead original planets and places. Makes it a lot easier to write it when I can make up every little detail, but that doesn't mean I won't use places like the Citadel and such. **

**Lastly I hope that because of the length the story has progress enough to satisfy those who have been patiently waiting over a month for another chapter.**

**Mass Effect is own by Bioware and EA, Halo by 343i and Microsoft.**

**June 11th, 2191 – Crescent Nebula – Tasale System – Illium – 1350 Hours**

Passing through the room full of bodies they continued down the halls more and more bodies ever present. The lights were still dim and everything quiet. It began to remind him of the mission reports on Installation 04 when the Master Chief stepped into the swamps to find Captain Keyes and found the flood. First there was covenant contacts and then just bodies and in the end the flood.

EDI went on the COM channel but they could barely understand here, "Spe…ctre…" only a couple of bits were coming through, "you… r… team… losing… conn…ection…" It then went dead. They had lost their connection to the _Earth_.

"Going in blind it seems," the Spartan told the group, whom all just nodded their heads. Each of them was prepared to go in blind. All they needed to do was stay together and work without question. Through the halls a scream echoed and they followed its direction. They reached the end of the hall and the door was locked. Rent instantly worked on the door to get it opened.

The Turian stepped away as it opened. Lights poured into the hall and they moved in only to suddenly see a man jump down from high above and stabbed an Ember soldier with dual omni-blades. The man glanced at them with glowing blues and even seemed growl before suddenly moving away and vanishing with active camouflage. No doubt it was a Reapers Children soldier and he wasn't alone.

Suddenly the Spartan was pushed down the ground and a soldier deactivated his camouflage, he brought up both of his omni-blades but the Spartan was able to strike first. He grabbed both of the soldier's arms stopping them in place and then back. Bringing up one of his legs he then kicked the soldier away and the Spartan got back on his two legs. As soon as he was up he grabbed his shotgun and blasted away the enemy.

They wore lighter armor than their counterparts they had encountered on Omega. Their helmet was a single red line across which glowed but as evident from the earlier one could become transparent. Based on the glow of their blue eyes they must be augmented. Just like the man they had saw on Omega.

His squad already was working on their own fights with more of them coming from the shadows. "Why are they killing those who supply them?" Mariika grunted over the COMs.

Rent leaned out of cover and shot down an enemy whom was hanging from the ceiling, they fell and splattered on the ground. "Maybe they fear of us getting to them and forcing the information out of them."

"But then why wouldn't they just help protect them and stop us?" Mariika then asked again but this time Rent just shrugged and continued firing.

"No point in questioning, we need to get to Ember first at all costs," Jastis ordered as they began to lay down suppressive fire. In the corner of his eye he saw a shimmer and turned his head to see one of the Reapers Children sneaking up behind Mariika. He turned and slammed himself into the enemy whom flew a bit and crashed into some metal crates.

Mariika smiled, "Thanks, I didn't even notice him, better keep my guard up." Even though she too had taken part in many battles, she didn't fight against a squad of all active-cameo assassins. Suddenly the ground began to shake and the enemies who still remained formed up and exited the room. Jastis began to follow them and his team followed behind and entered the next room just as he turned his head back and saw what happened. The room completely fell apart and began to crash into the shafts and corridors below.

No explosions however, just simply fell apart, upon using his VSIR he was able to note that it seemed that what was keeping it up was cut and eventually the lack of a sound bass caused it to break. Fires however did begin to break out with various machines being crushed. This mission seemed to cause more damage than they had first anticipated. Hopefully being a Spectre would make the fallout a little more bearable. "They're going to bring this whole place down!" Fastina exclaimed as they moved.

At the end of another corridor they entered a large room with thousands of crates, it appeared to be a storage facility but it was clearly under controlled by Ember and his thugs with their insignia plastered all over. Various explosions erupted causing crates to get destroyed or fly against the walls some even hitting some of Embers men. A firefight between Ember's and the Reapers Children was underway. The squad decided to use the confusion to their advantage. It had appeared that the assassins that had escaped their grasp were now in another fight and were too busy to watch them.

Getting into cover and not initially spotted they waited for a moment until both sides got into a good spot for an easy kill. On his HUD he tagged the targets to look out for and so they could see them moving even if they went behind cover. He looked up and saw a large crate hanging by a machine, and an idea struck. "Rent, I want you to hack that machine if you can. Then on my cue, drop it."

Rent smirked, he liked the idea. The Turian knelt down to the ground and began to work on his Omni-tool. At first he needed to get into the warehouses computer systems which were easy enough, then from there he was able to locate the specific machine that was holding up the cargo. He looked up at Jastis and ok'd him and Jastis nodded. Leaning out he watched as they moved. The Spartan raised his arm, and continued to watch them. On a moment notice Fastina and Mariika were ready to strike with their hands tightly grasping their weapons.

Just then as the Reapers Children were moving up and just as one of their feet were below the shadow of the crate he brought down his arm, and Rent pressed the release button. The assassins looked up as they heard the crate fall but it was too late, it smashed them against the ground killing them instantly. "Move up," Jastis replied as they began to move through the alleyways of crates.

**Reapers Children Platoon Leader – Same Location and Time**

Sarala stood there high above her men and watched as they fought. Her men were pushing hard against Embers men and winning. Although with the appearance of the Spectre and co, they were beginning to have to fall back and make some drastic changes to the original plan. Originally this was going to be a simple snatch and grab but it appears that they can't let Ember live. More so now that there is also another group who arrived alongside the Spectre but they didn't seem to be aware of each other. Another group was also looking for Ember for the same reason the Spectre was; to get their hands on Intel that could lead them to us. Or at least she assumed as much, Ember had many enemies and so he had a lot of information of many groups. For it was another Spectre. Different from the Spartan, this Spectre was native to this dimension.

It didn't matter however, since neither would win this battle. "Squad-Four, I want you to flank Spectre designated Spectre, Squad-Two and Six, put suppressive fire at the Spartan," she announced over the COM channels to which they all followed without word. Her squads of augmented soldiers were much better than her original squads of simple followers who were barely anything more than trained civilians, not all but the majority. The ones on Omega were certainly well trained but they now were dead.

She hoped that with this mission she could be placed in Aldrix's squad. Even though going from platoon leader to squad soldier would seem like a demotion, she didn't care much. Aldrix's men were the best of the best and they went on the most important missions.

Salara opened a channel to Squad-One, "Squad-One, this is Salara, have you located Ember yet?"

"Salara, this is Squad-One, found signs of Ember but he isn't here."

She thought about it for a moment and then responded back, "Is there any chance he got away?" Salara didn't even toy with the idea; it repulsed her to think that he may have gotten away.

"That is a negative, no shuttles have exited this area and based on scans there is no secret passage. He's in here."

The Platoon Leader was starting to get irritated, "Find him and kill him. Salara out." The COM channel cut.

Ember was a very paranoid man; he must have known they would come for him eventually. She hadn't talked to him before, usually some underling would do the trades and meetings but the underlings spoke often and so she heard much about him from them. In the room east of the storage area was a large base for which he did all of his operations from. Salara only hoped that this room would slow down the two Spectres. However it wasn't looking good when she gave another glance.

Both were downing many of her men in the confusion, they were augmented but it didn't appear to be enough if two Spectres could take them out. That would be in the report. Eventually she called it. "All remaining squads, fall back into the base, we will hold a last stand there."

With that she stepped down and began to make her own way into the base which was easy enough. She was faster and stronger than all of the soldiers in her platoon.

**Jastis **

"They're falling into the base," he stated as the firefight took a break. All of Embers men were either dead, injured, or running for their lives. However the Reapers Children still had enough to stay in the fight. The Spartan jumped up onto a large pyramid of crates and began to peruse, and his squad followed. Near one of the entrances a squad of Reapers Children turned and pointed their guns at the Spectres group. Rent laid out his turret as they continued to push. There wasn't time for much cover and it came down to dodging by going behind crates and machines. His shields began to shimmer as they neared depletion. The Spartan took a brief moment to hide behind some cover and let his shields regenerate. However Fastina, Rent, and Mariika were able to take out the soldiers at the entrance.

He was impressed by them, they weren't Spartans but they were great squad mates who worked together well. The Spartan admitted, if he finds a way back, he will miss them. Not even a month here and he was gaining some connections, not even something he felt for the Spartan-IV's, more akin of his connections to his fellow II's. Even after the war he didn't see much of the others, being there just to train the IVs he felt as if he was being left behind. Training those who are supposed to replace him. Despite that training they were looked at with weird expressions, more so when their origin started to get around.

Children kidnapped at the age of seven to become the ultimate warriors, to fight the insurrectionists but then to fight the Covenant. He could barely remember the memories of his parents, only he remembered that Earth is his home. If he hadn't been taken then he would have lived an average life, or joined the UNSC eventually and possibly died during a battle. Being alive today was because he was a Spartan and he wouldn't trade it for anything.

They had been in the frontlines of the Great War but now were being slowly pushed into the shadows. That is something that will always keep him and his new-found squad apart. Their origins, it's a driving force deep down inside, to keep going. However it was something that also kept them together. As long as they didn't find out, they wouldn't look at him any different than any other soldier. None of them would see the child soldier and instead see a Human being.

Getting out his thoughts he pushed into the base with his squad following behind. The base was cramped with small hallways and crates littering the ground among various other things. Fastina lifted a crate with her biotics and sent it flying at the enemies who dodged out of the way, but that gave time for the others to shoot them. "We need to get to Ember first." The doors ahead of them closed and the light turned red indicating it was locked. There was however no time to sit there and let Rent decode it, so they turned down the hall and found another door.

No one was there, so they passed through another until they came into a room full of consoles, but Reapers Children were already there. Before they could turn from their consoles and shoot, the squad leapt at the chance and blasted them away. "Rent, get on the console, see if you can find Embers location," the Spartan commanded, "Mariika, and Fastina, you two follow me, we will clear out the surrounding rooms." The three nodded and began to work, as they exited the room the doors locked.

They were down one man but it wouldn't change their momentum. Jastis turned the corner as an assassin jumped at him, but he kicked at the man and Fastina shot priced their head. Suddenly they heard a scream of one of the soldiers and another flew into the room with a biotic aura around them and slammed against the wall dying instantly. Jastis raised his gun in the direction they came from. Nothing appeared for a moment, Fastina spoke, "Maybe it was just some of Embers men?"

The doors in the direction they came from reopened and Jastis held up his hand so the team didn't fire. A man with black hair, a strong face and a very light five o'clock shadow on his face stepped in. He wore blue armor with white lines on the arms and down the center. In his hands he gripped the N7 Typhoon. "Spectre Jastis, didn't expect to see you here. Then again you probably could say the same thing."

Jastis cocked his head, "sorry, do I know you?" He didn't recognize the man but he appeared to be familiar with himself.

"Sorry I forget my manners there for a moment. I am Spectre Kaidan Alenko, and this is my squad," he gestured to the two humans behind him who both wore heavy armor.

Fastina spoke, "I knew you looked familiar. You fought with Commander Shepard against Saren and then again to fight the Reapers."

"That is indeed true."

Jastis turned and began to make his way to the next room, "It's nice to meet you but we have no time to chat. If we don't hurry they will get to Ember first."

"Right, let's work together to find him," Alenko responded. Jastis wasn't so sure but he did work with Commander Shepard and considering his reputation, he must be a worthy fighter.

The COM channel buzzed to life as Rent got on it, "Spartan, the security was quite tough, it appears not even the Reapers Children could it. Anyway, I located Ember. He is on the third floor, and we must hurry as they're closing in on him. His men are falling fast."

"Alright, Rent keep your current position, see what else you can get on their servers and if you can in anyway hamper their progress."'

"Affirmative, good luck."

Jastis then relayed the information to Kaidan, "Ember is still alive, he is on the third floor and quickly being overtaken."

"Let us hurry then."

The two squads moved through the hall and found an elevator. It wasn't large enough for the six of them and so Jastis and his squad decided to take another route as there wasn't enough time to wait for it to go up, down, and then go up again. Moving through the corridors they found a stairway at the end and followed it up. Sadly however it didn't go to the third floor. Moving through the second floor they were happy to see that no one was there and quickly found their way to the third floor where Kaidan's squad was already making progress.

It was evident that Kaidan was an excellent biotic as it seemed to overpower many of the assassins. His two squad mates were also well trained, one even grabbed an assassin who was on the other side of the cover and then stabbed him with his Omni-blade. Jastis and his squad quickly got alongside them and began to hammer the pressure further onto Embers remaining men and the Reapers Children. "Good of you to join us," Alenko said as he produced a biotic wave at some who were trying to close in on them.

"Just a small delay," the Spartan responded with.

**Sarala**

She cursed under his breath, her platoon was falling to the two Spectres. It was apparent that they were no match and they still had much to push in to get to Ember. Sarala slammed her fist against the wall, "All squads, I am ordering a full retreat. They have us beat." It wasn't worth it to stay and fight to the bitter end. A waste of assets. Their leader would hopefully understand it as much. They began to fall back and they broke the windows nearby which lead to the storage room.

Quickly they all jumped out and began to follow Sarala to the exit, they had various drop ships on the ready for them successful or not. Sarala was very flustered, wishing that she could go back in and take them out. But they were juggernauts and considering the Spartan already took out one of their bases and now foiled this operation, it was making her feel as if they wouldn't succeed.

The Platoon leader looked over her roster, only Squads-Two, Five, and Eight survived, One, three, four, six, and seven had been eliminated and even the remaining had casualties.

They would need to indoctrinate new followers and augment them again. It was going to cost them quite a bit.

**Jastis**

The Reapers Children began falling back and the remaining Embers soldiers pushed forward and shot them as they left but quickly turned their direction to the two squads that still remained. However they didn't fire but just stood there. "Cease fire!" they heard a voice echo out through the room over the bases speakers.

After a bit, the door on the other side of the room opened and a Turian stepped out. He had orange symbols around his eyes that also made it look like eye liner. It was clear that this was Ember he wore black clothing with some orange markings on them similar to his symbols on his face. Even though he wasn't human, he could see the anger in his eyes.

He spoke in a softer tone but he seemed to be holding the frightened tone back, "I will give you all of the information you need, just spare me."

"Kind of cowardly of a Turian to surrender just like that," Mariika thought aloud.

Ember sharply glared at her but then turned the glare to the Spartan, "I assume you must want information on the Reapers Children, no?"

"That is correct," the Spartan spoke. Ember brought up his Omni-tool and sent the information, quite a large packet to Jastis.

Ember stepped back, "that's everything. Now will you leave?"

Kaidan shook his head, "I can't let that happen. You have pissed off some of the Citadel and therefore I am requiring bringing you into custody."

Ember was about to speak but then both squads aimed their guns at the remaining thugs and no words came from his mouth. "Unless you wish to die here, that is," the Spectre ended the situation with. Ember was reluctant but gave in to the Spectre.

**Near the port – A little while later**

Kaidan and his squad had Ember in custody to bring him to C-sec at the Citadel, they were now on normal levels of Illium where both of their own ships were located. Rent was disgusted at Ember, while he wasn't very fond of his own race, he said that he was a disgrace to the entire race to which Ember just ignored him. On the way, Rent had replicated the information he gathered and gave it to Kaidan.

It appeared that Kaidan was following his own trail, trying to find out what happened to an Asari officials daughter and it lead to Ember. It just so happened he arrived there at the same time as themselves. As soon as they were able to, they contacted EDI and updated her on the situation and even sent her the data they got from Embers consoles and the data he personally gave. Obviously they hadn't been worrying and just simply now waited for their arrival. Alenko's two squad mates brought Ember to the ship but he stayed back with Jastis to talk with them.

"That was quite the luck we had running into each other," he started, "It also allowed me to see your abilities. I am impressed, really the each of you. I can only imagine being in your position of having to adapt to new races and such and a humanity that isn't your own. But you seem to have adjusted well."

Jastis nodded his head, "I thank you."

"Great honor coming from a Spectre such as you," Rent said.

Kaidan smiled at the group, "I assume you're off now to follow up on the leads you got from Ember?"

"That's the plan, after we analyze the data," Jastis responded.

Alenko just shook his head still smiling, "you're just as they said on the news. It's amazing how well you have done considering your situation. You're doing the Spectres justice, I hope you will keep it up for as long as you are here in our dimension. I bid you a far well."

The Spectre saluted, and Jastis did it back along with his squad and as Alenko turned and left they did as well.

**SSV-Earth – 1550 Hours**

Shortly after they arrived back on the ship and were standing in the decontamination hold. "That was good, better than the last mission," he stated to the ground. For which each of them were proud of it.

"Well this time none of us were injured," Rent replied. Then something happened that not even Jastis himself expected, the Spartan laughed. He can't remember the last time he laughed. It felt strange but also good.

"I didn't expect that to come of you," Rent then also said.

The Spartan then felt embarrassed, another emotion he didn't feel often, "I… I didn't either."

The process finished and they stepped in, "no need to gather, I will call everyone later to discuss the data. For now just relax." He didn't find much need to gather and go over what they just did and considering everyone in the squad was there to experience it. The Spartan went to the cockpit and was greeted by Joker spinning his chair in the direction of Jastis.

"Didn't expect Kaidan to be there. Haven't seen him much since the war ended, but considering he's a Spectre now it makes sense. He seems to be doing well for himself. Almost thought he was going to retire like Shepard did considering how much he went through. Then again we all went through a lot and I am still here, EDI too."

EDI responded, "due to my current situation I don't have much of a choice. With no body and all."

Jeff smirked, "that too, couldn't leave you alone. Well Captain, don't want to keep you. We shall get back to work."

"EDI have you went over the data I sent you as we remade contact?"

He didn't care much if EDI told him aloud where he was standing. Everyone on the ship deserved to be on the same level of Intel as he was.

"I have Spartan, it appears that Ember had some hands in some of citadel work force that went to the colony Horizon to clean up Cerberus mess that they made."

Joker piped in, "I remember that, nasty business with Miranda's father."

"Indeed," EDI said and then continued, "they were able to get a lot of the data and machines from there. From there they were then sold to the Reapers Children, the entire stock they got. It appears based on the data, the ones they had on Omega are only a fraction of the amount they have."

"Meaning they could be doing these experiments on other worlds at this present moment?"

"Exactly. To make matters worse, this data doesn't have any idea as to where they could be. No data even on the leader of the Reapers Children."

Jastis sighed, "Then we have hit a brick wall?"

"Not precisely, there is data as to where they were shipped off to after their original dealings. Four colonies to be precise, Nalzue, Ikhar, Disah, and Morkhan. Any one of these planets could have a Reapers Children facility or none at all. They would probably try to hide their tracks by screwing up anyone who tries to find their base on one of these planets only to find nothing but a trap."

He smirked, so there was something to go on, "think you could hack the colonies systems and try to locate which world is worth checking out?"

"I can, it will take some time considering the systems maybe secure tight to prevent such an event as this. As we know the Reapers Children seem to be in possession of an advanced AI on par with myself."

The Spartan almost forgot about that, but he did remember seeing the reports that he received after accepting the task of going after them. "Can you file a report on what we know thus far?"

"I will send a report shortly. Not going to prematurely turn off the coms this time, _right?_"

Even though it was an AI he could understand the tone in her voice, and Joker chuckled at it. "No… I would never…" Jastis responded, the thought did cross his mind but this time he wouldn't do it. Even though he admitted it was decently funny.

Jastis nodded and looked at the two of them and then turned and walked away he began to make his way to the elevator and then his cabin when Elizabeth stopped him. "There are new messages for you at your terminal," she stated.

He hadn't access his terminal much yet, mainly his personal laptop they had provided. "Think any chance Illium will crack down on you for what just happened?" Elizabeth inquired as he stepped in front of the terminal.

EDI responded for him, "Considering Illium backwater dealings, I doubt the higher ups will care much for the lives of the lower class as bad as that may sound, it's how things work."

"That's actually pretty horrible," Elizabeth finished. No one talked after that, Elizabeth went back to her terminal and began to work and Jastis did the same. He opened up his messages folder and began to read down the list. There was one from Captain Marcus, Livana, Engineer Drivin, and surprisingly Shepard. The name Livana didn't ring a bell, he didn't remember anyone being named that,.

He first opened up the one from Marcus it was titled: Exploits.

_Message from Captain Marcus_

_Captain Jastis, I have read up on your exploits thus far and I am impressed. I know the council may not act like it but they do mean the best. Your recent, disconnection from them they didn't take to well. All I will say is just keep a level of professionalism and it will go a long way in this galaxy._

_Keep up the good work._

Now he was used to being called Jastis, at first the idea of it wasn't the best as he only liked to be called by his first name by fellow Spartans or Halsey. His crew however seemed to call him a mixture of Captain, Spectre, or Spartan. Elizabeth would call him Jastis and Fastina has done that before as well.

Next he opened up the mysterious message from Livana titled: Assistance

_Message from Livana_

_Spectre, I have heard of your exploits and require some assistance. Please meet me in purgatory bar on the Citadel. It is of the upmost urgency that you come… Or something will happen. Something terrible will befall of me._

They were requesting assistance… A trap? No it couldn't be, he was shown purgatory bar when he was back on the Citadel and it was too public for any sort of ambush. Could it have something to do with the Reapers Children? Or was this some sort of hired work? Another question was raised, how did she get ahold of his email address? Never the less he would meet with this Livana when they would head to the Citadel. Considering they didn't have much to do now until they looked over the data he stepped away from the terminal for a moment.

"Joker, set a course for the Citadel," he announced to the pilot over the ships COMs.

"Aye-aye Captain," he responded back. Joker decided that since they had nothing to go on at the moment until EDI was finished that there must be something else.

Elizabeth cocked her eyebrow, "What for Jastis?"

"Some person named _Livana_, says they need to meet with me in Purgatory bar and that it's urgent."

"Livana? Doesn't ring a bell."

Jastis sighed, "I assumed as much, alright time to look at some more of these messages."

He opened the next one from Engineer Drivin titled: Ceremony?

_Message from Engineer Drivin_

_You becoming our Captain were quite shocking and quick. Needless to say there was no real ceremony outside of the one at the Citadel and your speech. So I purpose that when you and everyone has some free time. We get a ship get together and celebrate you for becoming a Spectre and our Captain. _

_Come talk to me down in Engineering when you wish to discuss this further. _

He didn't know what to make of it, he never been one for parties, well more like he never was able to party because being a Spartan didn't require such a thing. Marines had them often enough but he never took part. Spartan IV's as well had them. However, this would be a good way to get to know the crew a bit more then already which wasn't much. Jastis decided to think about it.

Lastly he opened the message from Shepard titled: How are you holding up?

_Message from Shepard _

_Spartan Jastis, it's good to hear that you have been doing well since you left Rannoch. While you seem tough, this galaxy can be brutal so it's good to see that things have only been getting better aside from your mission to Omega with your squad. When I was still the Commander and a Spectre, things were tough for the entire time. So it's not unusual that you may dip into some depressing and dark times. _

_Just don't give up and keep pushing forward. Your crew and squad are there to help. I know mine was and yours will be too. In that I give one piece of advice._

_Make bonds with your crew. While everyone has the chance of dying, as cynical as that may sound, it's true but that shouldn't stop you from not knowing them on a personal level. People of all races are more willing to go the extra mile with you if you connect with them. It may make loses that much worse, but those bonds you form will never be erased. I don't know if you can get back home, however I do know that your time here can be very valuable. _

_Good luck Spartan. _

Jastis eyes softened at the message and had to admit, Shepard was right. Deep down while didn't say it to anyone or outright accept it himself, he didn't want to make bonds and get himself too closely tied to this dimension because of his eventually arrival home. But it dawned on him.

_What… What if I never get back? What if I am stuck here?_

He didn't want to give up and he wouldn't. Even though he met with his squad mates, he didn't want to make ties to them and feel the same pain as he felt when his fellow II's died during the war. When Samuel-034 died… He was deeply saddened, not as much as Kelly or John but still so. Samuel sacrificed his life so that we could continue to the fight. But that bond he had with Samuel, and with the other lost II's, never vanished, they still existed and happened.

Looking back at the message from Engineer Drivin he decided that he would accept it. He terminated his session on the terminal and brought up EDI on one of the nearby holographic projectors. Her standard blue sphere appeared, "EDI, how long till the report is out?"

"It's already sent, wish for me to contact the council?"

Jastis cursed his luck he actually was hoping to go straight down to engineering but it would have to wait. "I will head to the coms room now."

He turned and walked into the coms room where like before the table was already down and he stepped into the center and the holographic projections of the council appeared.

"Council," The Spartan began.

"Spectre, you aren't going to cut us off like last time, are you?" Tevos asked immediately.

The Spectre shook his head, "No and I apologize for that last time, it was unprofessional of me and not a good way to present myself after just being given the honor of being a Spectre not long before that."

Sparatus sighed, "We will let you off, _this _time but don't expect us to be kind if you do it again."

"Right," Jastis finished and then Tevos continued to speak.

"On to other matters than. We have read your report. To think we have black market dealers in our ranks," Tevos responded solemnly.

Valern spoke next, "we shouldn't be surprised. Many dark dealings have been going on lately, more so since the war has ended. Been a bit of a strain on all of the Spectres."

Bradley responded next, "this does connect with your last report, Spartan, with the Cerberus tech being from on omega. Seems our efforts on Horizon were sabotaged."

"Guess the hope of being a more united galactic community after the war was more dream then truth…" Tevos finished allowing the Spartan to get a word in.

"As it also stated in the report, we have four leads and one more possible lead for which I am now pursuing at the moment which requires me to head to the Citadel."

Sparatus looked at Jastis suspiciously, "what lead is this? This wasn't in the report."

"Moments ago I was contacted by my terminal by someone named Livana. They stated that they were in danger and that I could help. I don't know if it's connected to the Reapers Children case but I following it up none-the-less until we decide which planet we will tackle."

Bradley smirked, "that's good of you. Following up on all possible leads; is something we expect out of the Spectres. Keep up the good work."

"Anything else Council?" Jastis asked hoping it would end soon.

"That's it. Continue your work." And with that the stream was cut, Jastis stepped off of the platform and the table rose back up. Leaving the coms room he went over to the elevator and rode it down to Deck 4: Engineering. As he stepped out of the elevator he looked at the windows and could actually see Deck 5 below. He didn't actually know where Drivin was only that he was somewhere down here according to the message. Jastis went down the hall and a door slid opened leading to another corridor which then led to the actual engineering room.

Engineers were at their terminals workings and some discussing with each other while looking over data. A Salarian engineer walked over to the Spectre, it was Drivin, he looked like most Salarian's with large eyes, his skin being a tint of dark blue and green outlined eyes. "Welcome Captain to the Engineering deck," he announced with his arms stretched out wide and then relaxing them to his sides. Drivin was known for liking to party, not excessively but was always in the mood to interact with others and meet people.

"I assume you got the message I sent?"

Jastis nodded, "Indeed. At first I was hesitant but I think it's a good idea. I still don't know everyone on the ship very well and this would be good for everyone's hard work even if we only have been on this mission for a short while."

Drivin clamped his hands together, "excellent- excellent! Do you know when the time for this shall be? I can help set it up but I need a date."

"Well to get you up to date, we're heading to the Citadel to follow up on a possible new lead while EDI tries to find which planet we go to next. I don't doubt her abilities but in the case that we have some free time before we go there. We shall have that party. So I shall keep you updated on how the situation progresses."

"I will be here, can't wait," he expressed with some level of glee. Drivin was one of the few Salarian's' aboard the ship, the scientist named Esbar was also a Salarian. He hadn't talked to him much yet after his initial trip to the lab. Seeing that they had some time before they arrive at the Citadel he decided to take a short nap. Going up to the Captain's cabin he stripped himself of his armor and placed on just a blank white t-shirt and some shorts. He told EDI on the way up to wake him when they were close to the Citadel.

**Fastina – Same time**

She had finished her report to the shadow broker and it was off. Even though that was one of multiple reports she has sent, Fastina was still perplexed that Captain Marcus would allow her to not only be aboard the ship but also told to continue her job. Multiple theories popped into her mind but there wasn't much use in entertaining them. Relaxing in her chair she began to browse the extranet looking up anything.

Suddenly she received a message and her eyes closed for a moment when she read the name and then reopened them. It was from her mother, Andila Nar Nusha.

_What does she want?_

The Quarian was skeptical to open the message, last them they saw each other harsh words were transferred.She sighed and eventually opened it; there was no title to the message.

_Message from Andila Nar Nusha_

_Dearest Fastina, I know you're still angry at me- us, but please we wish for you to return home. We were foolish and unaccepting of you. Please come home to Rannoch, we're waiting…_

She was taken aback by this message, they forgave her? Bullshit. This had to be some sort of trick, they weren't that forgiving. Her family was cold and cruel. Fastina shut the message in disgust; she would have no part of that family. Despite her short time, she felt more of a connection to the crew of the _Earth_, than she ever felt for her parents or siblings. Maybe… Just maybe it was time to abandon Nusha..?

**Jastis – 1900 Hours**

"Captain, we're about to arrive at the Citadel," EDI's voice rang on the speakers that were in the cabin. Within a split second the Spartan was already awake and getting up, he thanked EDI and then proceeded to get back into his armor. It was getting late but the Citadel was up 24/7, people were out clubbing, eating, relaxing, meeting with friends at all hours of the day.

Personally he didn't find the idea of living on an artificial colony very appealing. He only tolerated living on a ship because his training and job demanded it from him. Any time he went to a colony, ruins or no, there was something about being able to see a real sky, real weather, flora, and animals, things which artificial colonies lacked.

Jastis stopped in front of the exit to the Cabin, "EDI, can you tell Engineer Drivin that if he requires anything for the party, that he can take time off to get it while on the Citadel. Bar that, extend that to the crew, if anyone needs anything they can get it now. Just make sure they know that at any moment notice they can be called back."

"I shall relay it," the AI replied back.

For this meeting with Livana he would be going alone rather than with his squad. When he went down the elevator he could hear EDI's announcement, there was a bit of happy glee on the faces of the crew members who were going to take up the offer. Not everyone some continued to work like XO Evan who didn't feel the need to get stuff. Elizabeth however was already preparing to leave, she like Jastis didn't like being on the ship for long but their jobs and training demanded it. Joker decided to stay to keep EDI company.

He didn't see Fastina, Rent, or Mariika, assuming they must be resting after the mission. After going into the decontamination hold he exited the ship. Like he expected he had to go through C-Sec which went quickly since they knew he was a Spectre from the news and the fact that he exited from the _Earth_. After that he was free to wonder the Citadel by himself. Shortly after he arrived at Purgatory bar. Everyone looked at him, from the Humans to the Krogan. He wondered if that effect would ever go away, but he doubted it.

The Spartan stepped into the bar, its blasting music and neon lights annoyed him. He walked up the steps and now knew he had a problem. Livana hadn't given him her picture or anything, he didn't know what race she was or if it was even a girl and was just using a false name. He twisted his head around looking in all direction until he spotted an Asari sitting at a table that stood up and beckoned to him.

_Must be Livana. _

He walked over to the table and before sitting down asked, "are you Livana?"

"I assume you must be the Spartan?"

"Then I guess we both have the right person." Livana was a younger Asari with pale skin and a white line that went over her face and over her nose. "I will get to it fast, I am in danger."

Jastis sat down and she continued, "I am being hunted down by some mercenaries."

_So it isn't about the Reapers Children. _

Still he sat and listened, "Recently my mother has gotten into some shady dealings. It started just over a month ago, and because she made a bad call with these thugs they kidnapped her and now they're after me as well."

"Why not ask C-Sec to intervene, why me?"

She looked at him her eyes barely keeping away the tears, "because the planet they have her on is out in the traverse, C-Sec has no control over there. I needed someone like you to help me. Why you specifically? I don't know, something about you made me think you can be trusted."

"What planet?"

"It's a rocky and barren world called Iva-IV in the Nabuea Nebula, Iva System. It's where their main base is."

Under his helmet, Jastis raised an eyebrow, "How do you know of this?"

"I had some help… From a hacker, I don't know his name they were anonymous. I just met him on the extranet. I don't know if it's true but it's the only thing I have to go on."

_Who is this hacker? I guess it isn't important… For now._

Jastis rose in his seat, "I will check this planet and return your mother. In the meantime take refuge with C-Sec. I don't want them to kidnap you while I am away."

Livana and Jastis walked together to C-Sec and he explained the situation and they were more than willing to take care of her till he came back. With nothing more to do he left the Citadel and went back onto the _Earth_, although he told EDI not to call everyone back yet till he looked into some things.

Sitting at his personal laptop he researched the planet, Iva-IV and just like she said it was there. Barren world full of sand and more sand. No colonies to speak of. However there was suspicious activity that had been reported. Eventually he called back the crew at around 2150 Hours and they all rushed back and got into position. Shortly thereafter the ship pulled away from the Citadel and flew to the relay with the coordinates he had given EDI. It would be a while to get there. Since the only relay in the Nebula was quite far from the Iva system.

With that in mind he once more rested in his bed, telling EDI to wake up and his squad if they weren't up already when they arrived.

**Sarala – Unknown Location – 0200 Hours**

Sarala stood there in the light while the darkness shrouded the rest of the room making the woman who sat across from her nearly invisible. "Sarala… You had one mission, one simple task. Yet you failed. This is the second time we have been thwarted by this Spartan."

Sarala knelt to the ground, "I am sorry, I had no way of foretelling that Spectre Kaidan Alenko would also be arriving with his own squad. Had he not we would have succeeded."

"That is indeed true, a bad twist of events. However this has set us back. We only know glimpses of what Ember knew of us. They now have a larger trail then they did before."

"I am sorry! Sorry!" Sarala exclaimed.

There was a small laugh from the woman in the shadows, "calm yourself, I am not going to kill you if that what you believe."

Sarala brought her head up, "you're not?"

"No, despite your failings, it brought to light that our augmented soldiers aren't enough. You commanded just fine but they couldn't keep up. That is why I am moving you from your position as platoon leader and you will be the fifth member of Aldrix's squad. I will place Bradlock in your former position."

Sarala stood up in joy, "truly? I am honored."

"That you should be… Now go on and get with your new squad."

"Thank you!" Sarala bowed and ran out of the room with such glee like a school girl. The woman just sighed.

After a brief waiting period she spoke again, "Noga, prepare the V4 augmentations along with a new batch of civilians to indoctrinate. Get whoever will volunteer."

Noga who had been in the shadows along with her just nodded without a word and stepped out of the room.

**June 12th, 2191 - Nabuea Nebula – Iva System – SSV-**_**Earth **_**– 0600 Hours**

They were nearing the desert planet and Jastis awoke earlier than when EDI was going to, in fact his entire squad was also. Each of them updated with the situation and waiting on the Spartan. Quickly he got ready in his armor and got ahold of his weapons. Even before he was off the ship, EDI announced, "XO Kavin has the deck." Going down the elevator to Deck 5 he walked out and saw Fastina, Mariika, and Rent waiting. Rent was fiddling with his weapons, Mariika and Fastina were just chatting.

He went over to Barns who was just sitting there, "Barns are you going to fly us down?"

Barns stood up, "That's the plan." They walked over to the Kodiak Shuttle and Barns opened the door and told everyone to hop in. It lifted off from the ground and they exited the _Earth _as soon as it was near enough to drop them. It reminded him of being dropped in via a pelican but a bit more cramped. Jastis barely was able to stand up in it without bending his neck. If they were in a pelican that wouldn't be needed.

Based on the scans there wasn't much oxygen on the planet but enough so that if their air supply was broken that they would be able to breath. They spotted the base in the distance as it was at the base of a large mountain range. It was quite large but it appeared to go deep underground. Outside there was two levels of walls with checkpoints. Quite the fortress. Even with Anti-Air guns littered around. "Two black market dealers in two days? That's what I like to call efficient, wouldn't have had anything like that back with the military," Rent spoke as they flew closer to the ground.

"Quite, even when I was an official commando I never could say I was this efficient with my work," Mariika said as she got her weapon ready.

When they were in walking distance they landed and stepped out. It wasn't going to be easy but they would need to bust through the checkpoints. Hopefully the stealthiest they could be. The squad split up in teams of two and made their way through the sandy dunes making sure that any patrols couldn't spot them. It was hot, really hot. Even with the cooling systems in the MJOLNIR armor Jastis continued to sweat a little bit.

Eventually they made their way to the walls without being spotted. Fastina got an idea, "Jastis, I will have Mariika use her biotics to throw me up on the wall and I will climb over. Using my active cameo I should be able to subdue the guards and open the checkpoint."

There wasn't much choice, "you have permission."

Mariika really focused her biotic energy and surrounded Fastina and began to lift her. She wasn't heavy so it was easy. When she was able to grab on the wall she let her biotics go and Fastina lifted herself over the wall with her active cameo active. It was a bit of a fall but she jumped off the top and used a bit of biotics to land safely and no one noticed. There were only some guards and they were standing near the checkpoint.

She moved towards a small little room where it appeared that you could open the checkpoint. Silently she crept to the door while the other guards outside just chatted. The door slid opened and a guard without their helmet on was just sitting facing the control panel. "Joe… Is my shift over yet?" They exclaimed.

Fastina did not dare respond, she walked over to him and brought her arms around his neck and he began to try and escaped but using a bit of her biotics she was able to snap their neck. Leaning over their dead body, she pulled down on a lever and the gate began to fall. Without further delay she stepped out of the room before they came. The two guards confused as to why the gate opened went over to the room where the guard laid dead. As soon as they stepped in Fastina followed and took out her pistol and simply shot both in the head before they could react.

"Gate is open and clear. Come on in," Fastina told the team over the COMs.

"Good job Fastina!" Mariika replied as they met her on the other side of the wall. To hide the evidence they closed the gate but Rent first placed in a bug that allowed him to quickly open it with his Omni-tool without needing to pull the lever.

Fastina looked at the next wall, "Same thing again?"

Jastis nodded, and Mariika got into position to use her biotics. Once more Fastina was lifted into the air until she could grab ahold of the wall but this time she didn't climb over but just hanged there. "Spartan… There are a lot of bogies on the other side. As soon as I open the gate a fire fight will erupt and all stealth will be gone. No way to avoid it."

"If it can't be helped we will be ready. Just be careful."

Fastina nodded and climbed over the wall and landed and slowly began to make her way to the lever. Going behind boxes and in the shadows no one noticed her despite the increase in guards. She got to the door and it slid opened but no one was there but then suddenly she was pushed forward as someone bumped into her.

"What the fuck!" the person behind her yelled, she quickly turned and shot him with her pistol and then ran and pressed the level. The shot was seen and heard by all of the guards in the compound. As the gate lowered the three on the other side got ready.

"Spartan, fire fight!" the Quarian spoke.

"Acknowledged!" he yelled over the COMs as the gate fell and they rushed in. Taking out his sniper he immediately went for the guards who were on the higher spots. Fastina left the room and ran to the squad with ease. She was breathing fast, she was so close to death and it didn't feel good. It never did.

"Fastina you alright?" Rent asked.

"Just peachy."

The Turian smirked and he turned back to face the fight. Jastis moved up and Rent followed getting behind a Kodiak that was surrounded by crates. The Spartan ran out of cover to draw the fire away from the three others so that they could get the shots. It was hard for them to hit the Spartan, he was moving much faster than they could react. They also didn't have the best weapons nor very well made armor. Rent climbed up on the side of the Kodiak and placed his turret. It aimed downwards on the other side of the Kodiak and ripped some of the enemies to shred.

He loved his turret as it did damage and took the heat off of him. Using his Talon he strafed out of cover and shot down some of the mercenaries who stepped out of a small building ahead. His turret continued to fire but eventually the Mercs got smart and shot it enough so that it exploded. Luckily if he carried spares. Placing another one it continued to fire once more taking the heat off of him.

Jastis jumped onto a cat walk that some of the enemies were shooting from, not even using his shotgun he ran over to one and simply punched them in the face killing them instantly. The next one turned to face him but was met with the butt of the Claymore and too died. Rolling out of the way of a grenade he pulled out his Javelin and exploded the enemy with blood as the snipers bullet pierced through their shields with one hit.

Mariika picked up two soldiers who flanked her with her biotics and slammed them together and then into the ground. Everyone was dead, no one moved but the squad but then suddenly a Krogan in very heavy armor rushed out into the fray, "everyone, focus your fire on the Krogan!"

There were no more normal Mercs and just the Krogan so they all turned and began to fire on it as it rushed at Rent. It slammed into his turret and it exploded, Rent began to run as the Krogan continued at him. Suddenly the Krogan found himself off the ground as Jastis slammed himself at the Krogan and when they hit the ground he blasted him with the Claymore. His armor held and the Krogan pushed the Spartan off whose feet slid in the sand and he barely was able to keep standing for a moment but he regained his balance.

Now the Krogan was angry and went into blood rage. It was now determined to kill the Spartan. It ran faster than it did before at the Spartan and Jastis got a few shots of the Claymore before having to drop it. He stretched out his arms and grabbed onto the Krogan as it continued to rush at him. They were at a deadlock for a moment each other pressing their strength at the other. "Shoot him!" Jastis exclaimed while focusing on the Krogan.

Mariika, Rent, and Fastina began to fire at the back of the Krogan but it kept strong and pushing. This was the power of the blood rage. Jastis pulled back one of his arms and punched the Krogan in the face. That was enough to set it back a couple of steps while Jastis got his Claymore back up. As soon as his finger hit the trigger he was pounding the Krogan with Claymore rounds till eventually the Krogan just stood there and fell to the ground.

"He was a tough sun of a bitch wasn't he?" Rent exclaimed as he sat on a small crate.

"I guess we know where most of their money for armor went, because clearly it wasn't spent on the other Mercenaries," Fastina said.

Jastis looked at his squad, "good job everyone. Now let's get inside the base. I feel there is more where this guy came from so stay frosty."

Rent quickly went over to the booth where the lever to open the second checkpoint and placed the same bug as the first one in it. After that he caught up with the squad as the door opened up to the base. No lights were on but it was dirty with sand filling the halls. Not a stir inside, and with that the squad moved in. It was time to save Livana's mother.

**AN: Ten-Thousand Words! I didn't think I could do it! But I was successful! Not much to say but I hope I portrayed Kaidan well. Truth be told I only picked him to survive on Virmire because I wasn't very fond of Ashley's xenophobia. After that I didn't talk to them often since I found his character boring. Better in ME3 but still not the best. Never the less I thought it would be interesting to include him in the chapter for fun. **

**Hope you all enjoyed your holidays and new year! See you next time with the regular 3k to 4k word count! **

**Please review and critique! And if you like it, follow the story. :)**


	15. Announcement

This FanFic is over, kind of… See after reading some other Fanfics and looking over mine. I realized I could do better. Not better than other Halo/ME Fanfics but better than my own. So I decided to instead reboot my FanFic starting from square one.

The problem I have with it in its current form is that I am loosing interested. I have a lot of great stuff planned but I wrote myself into a corner and having a lot of writers block.

So I decided to rewrite the Fic with a new name and a lot of changes. There will be returning characters and new characters but unlike the original I am not going to write without a plan. For the most part I was winging it and just wrote what I felt like which isn't bad per-se but I know now it can't survive just on that alone.

So look out for: _Far From Home, _soon!


End file.
